Italy vs Bosnia and Herzegovina Prediction and Betting Preview | March 31

Italy vs Bosnia and Herzegovina Betting Preview

With the World Cup heading to North America this summer, The GoldSheet will be ramping up its soccer coverage over the next few weeks. WagerTalk handicapper and GoldSheet’s featured writer Bruce Marshall shares his thoughts on how Tuesday’s Italy vs Bosnia and Herzegovina clash will shake out.

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Italy’s Current Form

Hard as it is to believe, Italy has failed to qualify for the last two World Cups, going out in the playoff vs. Sweden prior to the 2018 tourney in Russia and then shocked by North Macedonia to miss the 2022 event in Qatar.

From a country that has won Copa Mundial four different times, this is almost unthinkable, more so perhaps that in the 2020 Euros (played in 2021) right between the last two World Cups, Roberto Mancini’s Italy were the winners.

After a drab spell with Luciano Spalletti (now at Juventus) in charge at the last Euros, longtime AC Milan midfield warhorse and vet manager Gennaro Gattuso was brought in to at least qualify for USA/Canada/Mexico this summer, but the Azzurri have been forced to the playoff route once more.

The good news is that Italy showed a good cutting edge in the 2-0 win over Northern Ireland in Bergamo last Thursday to advance to this winner-takes-all in Zenica vs.Bosnia-Herzegovina, but sharp goals from Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali and Fiorentina’s Moise Kean saw Gattuso’s side thru without much difficulty.

Former Atalanta striker Mateo Retegui, who had 25 goals in Serie A last term and now campaigning in Saudi Arabia, has five goals in qualifying, and what goalie would you rather have on your side than Euros and Champions League-winner, the giant Gigi Donnarumma?

This time, we don’t even want to think what sort of reception the Azzurri get at home if they can’t advance. World Cup lore reminds us that the Italian team was pelted with rotten fruit by enraged fans upon its return home from the 1966 World Cup in England and a shock loss to North Korea–North Korea!!– that knocked the Azzurri out of the competition at the end of the group stage!

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Current Form

The Bosnians are here after a shootout win last Thursday over snakebit Wales, with old pro Edin Dzeko throwing his side a lifeline with a patented header on 86 minutes before the shootout heroics in Cardiff, and even with the home edge, it might take more than the 40-year-old vet campiagner Dzeko to give the home side a chance.

Italy vs Bosnia and Herzegovina Prediction

There are more established weapons on hand for Italy, not to mention Donnarumma in goal, to give Italy the edge. Thus, we would be stunned if the Azzurri miss the World Cup again and expect the welcome home from Zenica to be much more pleasant than in 1966 from England, though the straight win at -180 lacks some appeal at that hefty price.

Given the Italia weapons who seem to be in-form, however, we could instead lay -1 goal on the spread and look at +160 return, which appears a worthwhile risk to us. The in-form Kean to score at +137 or thereabouts seems worth a look, too, and to get more aggressive, a lesser punt on a 2-0 correct score for Italy returns +550.

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