Romania vs Bosnia-Herzegovina Prediction: Seventh successive win for Tricolorii

Romania haven't qualified for a World Cup since 1998 but hopes are high this time around after a positive showing at Euro 2024 last summer when they reached the last 16 before falling to defeat against eventual semi-finalists the Netherlands. Austria are favourites to win Group H of European qualifying but the Romanians can pose a credible challenge for top spot and will at the very least expect to finish as runners-up and secure a play-off spot.

Outside of the top two, only Bosnia-Herzegovina are expected to offer any resistance with Cyprus and San Marino very much the whipping boys of the group, and it's Zmajevi who provide the opposition for Romania's first qualifier of the campaign on Friday (19:45). Read on for my Romania vs Bosnia-Herzegovina prediction, alongside the latest team news and match odds, ahead of this contest at a spectatorless Arena Nationala in Bucharest.

Team News

Mircea Lucescu's Romania squad for their March World Cup qualifiers with Bosnia and San Marino includes national team captain Razvan Marin (Cagliari), Ianis Hagi (Rangers), Dennis Man (Parma) and Nicolae Stanciu (Damac), but key duo Valentin Mihaila (Parma) and Radu Dragusin (Tottenham Hotspur) suffered injuries earlier this year and are unavailable for selection.

Daniel Birligea (FCSB) opened the scoring in Romania's last game, a 4-1 victory over Cyprus last November, and the 24-year-old will be looking to build on his first international strike in this month's window.

Football Odds

Bosnia's all-time appearance maker (139) and goalscorer (67) Edin Dzeko (Fenerbahce) is still going strong at the grand old age of 38, netting 19 times in his first 43 club appearances this season, and he will lead the line for his country this month.

The national team captain will be supported in attack by Ermedin Demirovic (VFB Stuttgart) with Sead Kolasinac (Atalanta), Amar Dedic (Olympique Marseille) and Ermin Bicakcic (Eintracht Braunschweig) playing important roles in defence.

However, Anel Ahmedhodzic (Sheffield United) hasn't been selected despite playing the full 90 minutes in Sunday's Steel City derby.

With Miralem Pjanic (CSKA Moscow) retiring from international football last year, there's a real lack of quality in midfield, increasing the pressure on the likes of Benjamin Tahirovic (Brondby) and Ivan Sunjic (Pafos).

Romania vs Bosnia-Herzegovina Odds

Romania have won their last six competitive home matches and are 8/11, or a 57.9% chance, to make it seven in a row on Friday by beating Bosnia, whose odds of 7/2 imply a 22.2% chance of success.

The draw is priced at 23/10, both teams to score at 10/11, and over 2.5 total goals at 1/1.

Birligea (9/5) is favourite in the anytime goalscorer market with Dzeko (13/5) first up for the visitors.

Match Result - Romania @ 8/11

It feels like the good times are back for Romania, who followed up their Euro 2024 exploits by resoundingly topping their Nations League group, winning home and away against Kosovo, Lithuania and Cyprus, albeit their home game against the Kosovans was abandoned in second-half stoppage time with the score at 0-0 and a 3-0 win subsequently awarded to Romania due to crowd trouble.

Bosnia, meanwhile, endured a miserable 2024, failing to win a single game (D2, L7), although they were in the top tier of the Nations League and faced difficult matches against Germany, the Netherlands and Hungary.

Still, Sergej Barbarez isn't blessed with a golden generation of players and they're still heavily reliant on the Dzeko who, as impressive as he still is, has scored just three times in 13 national team appearances since the start of 2023.

There appears to be very little going for Bosnia while Romania have been on the up for the last couple of years, beating Switzerland to top spot by five points in Euro 2024 qualifying before finishing top of Group E at the finals in Germany last summer, albeit only on goal difference as Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine also ended on four points after three games.

Tricolorii have lost just two of their last 20 competitive contests, winning 14 of those matches, and are rightly regarded as favourites on Friday. Lucescu's side haven't lost on home soil since suffering a 2-1 friendly defeat to Slovenia in November 2022, and their last competitive loss in Bucharest was in June of that year as Montenegro beat them 3-0.

Bosnia have won just one of their last 14 away games, a 2-0 victory over international minnows Liechtenstein in October 2024, losing 10 of those including nine of their last 11, so the statistics don't make for positive reading heading into the Romanian capital.

A victory for the hosts looks the safest bet here at a still reasonable 8/11.

Anytime Goalscorer - Razvan Marin (ROM) @ 100/30

Marin scored just three times in his first 55 senior international appearances for Romania but a strike in Tricolorii's 3-0 Euro 2024 group-stage victory last June has sparked a sensational run in front of goal.

The 28-year-old has now scored eight goals across his last 10 caps, netting twice at last summer's Euros and six in as many Nations League games during the autumn; only Sweden's Viktor Gyokeres (nine) beat Marin in the scoring charts, with another Swede, Alexander Isak, in third but with two fewer goals than the Romania captain.

Marin has also struck three times for Calgiari in Serie A this season, two of them spot-kicks, and five of his eight national team goals in 2024 were from 12 yards.

He last missed a penalty in June 2021, and with 16 successfully converted from 18 taken in his senior career, Marin has an 88.9% conversion rate.

At 100/30, Marin is great value to make it seven goals in as many games for Lucescu's side.

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