🏆 How to beat Bosnia and reach the World Cup: do's and don'ts 🧨 | OneFootball

Tonight, Italy will face Bosnia in Zenica to return to the World Cup after 12 years, a hugely important match in which the Azzurri will have several ways to trouble their opponents.

At the same time, head coach Gattuso will have to be wary of some of Bosnia’s weapons and avoid certain mistakes that were made against Northern Ireland.

Take advantage of Bosnia’s 4-4-2 in midfield

Bosnia play in a 4-4-2 with fairly attack-minded full-backs, which has at times become a 4-2-3-1: in any case, they do not tend to sit deep inside their own box. In short, Bosnia press the opposition build-up quite aggressively and mainly defend man-to-man, and that could be one of the keys to the match.

With our 3-5-2 we can exploit the numerical advantage in midfield, or wait for one of their defenders to step out of the line so we can find a through ball into space. In other words, exactly what we lacked against Northern Ireland: in that match only Tonali really tried it and, in fact, those passes led to two dangerous chances.

The man best suited to exploit this situation is Moise Kean, one of the few players, along with Politano and Palestra, who knows how to run in behind, beat his man or create a numerical advantage.

Try the play = no fear

Our national team has the perfect mix to be a predictable side, at least on paper: a 3-5-2 without players who dribble and without the time needed to create the automatisms required to unsettle opponents (a bit like Inzaghi’s Inter, just to be clear).

That is why it will be crucial to also try the more difficult play, the through pass or holding up the ball for as long as possible (Pio and Retegui style) to wait for midfield runners or shots from outside the box by Tonali and Barella.

If Bosnia instead decide to drop deep into their own area, it will be even more important for individuals to take responsibility. Whatever game plan coach Barbarez goes with, Italy must not repeat the first half against Northern Ireland: less fear and a freer mind.

Press together and be careful of Bosnia’s pace + crosses

Bosnia’s strengths are certainly the qualities of their forwards: Dedic’s pace (an ultra-attacking full-back), Alajbegovic’s flair (he should start on the bench) and Dzeko’s link-up ability, which can free up space for Demirovic.

To limit those qualities, it will be vital to press in a coordinated way, without individual initiatives that can leave gaps behind. Because one-on-one footraces out wide can be dangerous: Dedic and Alajbegovic have a different engine compared to Dimarco, while Politano is a forward adapted to play wide.

But above all, Edin Dzeko must be limited as much as possible: the all-around playmaker of this national team, who tends to pull opponents out of position and then exploit that to generate the crosses Bosnia so often rely on. In this respect, Italy’s defence must be careful: our problems defending set pieces and aerial balls are concerns we have been carrying for quite some time.

Because conceding early can be mentally fatal and tactically expose all our flaws: the Azzurri do not need to play a beautiful match, nor the perfect match, they need to avoid serious mistakes and, if possible... reach the World Cup.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

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