The head coach Robert Prosinečki addressed the media at the start of the preparations:

“We will have a little more time than before to prepare, so we will see who will replace the injured Džeko in his position. Jajalo, as well as Hotić, who has just acquired the right to play for the national team, are a little late. The other players are here and ready. Duljević is also healthy and will compete for matches. More or less, everyone plays in his club, which is very important to us.”

Prosinečki says about the next opponent:

“We weren’t at our level in the last matches. In these five days, we will do our best to prepare ourselves best to beat Finland. The Finns have showed in these qualifications to be a tricky team. Still, we play in front of our fans and hope for a win.”

A support from the stands is also important to the head coach:

“The support of the fans is also important to us. They are our twelfth player and can drive the match in our direction. Surely, the fans were also shaken after the latest results which were not good. We can guarantee that we will do our best and that we try to win. We need our fans for that too, because when we played with a good atmosphere in the Nations League, we had good results. I hope a lot of people will come to support us and help our national team.”

When asked why there were no results in the qualifications unlike in the Nations League matches, Robert Prosinečki replied:

“We did a lot of analysis and we thought about it a lot. We also had good qualifying matches, but in which there was no result. The match against Italy, for example, as well as the first half with Greece. I think we only fell after Finland. They outplayed us in the first match and we were not at the level we played until then. If we win these two matches, it will be a strong wind in the back. I hope we’ll make a good result. We want to bring back the atmosphere as before.”

Prosinečki added that Miralem Pjanić would wear the captain's armband in the absence of Džeko.