VIDEO: Edin Dzeko says there is a 50-50 chance Bosnia will beat Ireland

He might be back from injury, back in the goals, and, with his Bosnia teammates, back in their beloved Zenica, but even with Ireland missing key men Edin Dzeko discounts the favourites tag for the home side tonight, instead insisting that the play-off against Ireland is “50-50”.

Speaking ahead of a final training session in the Bilino Polje stadium last night, the Roma striker, on loan from Manchester City, was blunt about the challenge the visitors present.

“It’s not easy to win against Germany,” he said. “If you beat them, you must be a good team.

“From playing in England, I know almost all the Irish players. As a team, they are coherent, they never give up and they always want to give more than 100%.

“Maybe some of the most important players are not playing in the first game, which could be a problem for Ireland, but they have other good players who can jump in, so I don’t think it’s a big advantage for us. They have quality, individual quality, so even if some players are missing, they are a good team who will never give up.

“I think the tie is 50-50 I think it doesn’t matter that some of our players are playing Champions League. Ireland have players with a lot of big match experience.”

What could give Bosnia an extra edge, he suggested, will be the fervour of the crowd in the intimate, atmospheric surroundings of the team’s preferred home in Zenica.

“I can say that we are at home, we are at Zenica, and I love to play in Zenica,” the skipper beamed.

“This place is something special, it gives us the power to give even more. We love this place. We have won many big games here and hopefully we can win another now.

“This would be our first time to go to the Euros. We reached the World Cup in Brazil, and that was our first big competition, and now we want to go Euro as well.”

Bosnia manager Mehmed Bazdarevic. Picture: Inpho

For his part, manager Mehmed Bazdarevic said that Ireland’s absentee problem would not affect his side’s approach to tonight’s game.

“We are not going to change anything when it comes to our strategy,” he maintained.

“They do have some little problems, we are going to stick to our strategy. We do fear them. They have an excellent team and we respect them but we are ready to confront them.”

And suggesting he plans to fight fire with finesse, he added: “Possession of the ball will be decisive and we are ready for an aggressive type of game.”