The team of Ivo Krezo came to the advantage in the 8^th minute when Josip Bošković hit the net from a few meters unhindered.

The same player doubles the advantage of the BH team in the 17^th minute. Goalkeeper Stanislav Galić sent the ball to the opponent’s six-meter area for Bošković who scored his second goal.

The BH national team players had more attempts, while the guests missed the best opportunity in the 18^th minute when Dandan hit the crossbar from the penalty spot.

In the 23^rd minute, Northern Macedonia reduced the advantage of our national team, and the scorer was Dragan Petrović after a great pass by Antonio Petrovski.

By the end of the match both teams had created several chances, but the score was not changed.

At the end of the match, the head coach Ivo Krezo stated:

“I congratulate the players on the deserved victory, but also the team of Northern Macedonia on the correct game. As expected, a difficult match, especially due to the fact that we haven’t even played for a long time. This is our first official match after a year. Although we had more ball possession and more chances, the ball didn’t go into the goal in the second half. The most important thing is that we fulfilled our goal and opened the qualifications with a victory. The match with Serbia follows, where I believe, we will play even better than today. We hope for a favourable result.”

In the second match of the group, Romania and Serbia played tie 2:2 in Timisoara. The second round is scheduled for the 3^rd February, when Serbia-Bosnia and Herzegovina and Northern Macedonia-Romania will be played.

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Northern Macedonia 2:1 (2:0)

“Husejin Smajlović” Arena, Zenica

Referees: Carl Hughes, Valentin Ciuplea (Wales)

Goals: 1:0 Bošković (7:11), 2:0 Bošković (16:24), 2:1 Petrović (22:15)

Yellow cards: Aladžić (BH), Krstevski (N. Macedonia)

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Stanislav Galić, Marijo Aladžić, Bilal Jelić, Nermin Kahvedžić, Anel Radmilović, Darko Milanović, Marin Sesar, Josip Sesar, Davor Arnautović, Srđan Ivanković, Mirko Hrkać, Josip Bošković, Emir Omerhodžić, Sabahudin Petak. Head Coach: Ivo Krezo

Northern Macedonia: Antonio Petrovski, Adrijan Micevski, Darko Rangotov, Dragan Petrović, Dandan, Ivan Stojanovski, Redžep Sulejman, Taulant Ismaili, Ivan Krstevski, Igor Leovski, Dimče Andov, Martin Todorovski, Đokica Arsovski, Erkan Seferi. Head Coach: Vasil Skenderovski