Canada’s first opponent qualified the hard way, knocking off mighty Italy to secure place in the tournament
Bosnia-Herzegovina proved to be a tough out en route to the World Cup. Canada will discover just how tough Friday in Toronto. The 64th-ranked Bosnians qualified the hard way, beating No. 37 Wales and then No. 12 Italy via penalty shootouts in the European playoffs.
In both cases, the Bosnians needed late goals to draw even at 1-1 and force extra time, with captain Edin Dzeko scoring in the 86th minute against Wales and Haris Tabakovic in the 79th minute against Italy.
“It showed how much quality we have and that we can play these big games. And that we’re prepared,” winger Amar Memic said before training Thursday.
“We never give up,” added Swedish-born midfielder Benjamin Tahirovic. “If we’re down in a game, we always try to find a way out. ”German-born forward Ermedin Demirovic isn’t fazed by the fact the Bosnians sit 34 places below Canada in FIFA’s rankings.
“For us, I think it’s not that bad to be the underdog,” said Demirovic, who plays his club football in Germany for VfB Stuttgart. Bosnia-Herzegovina ended up in the do-or-die playoffs after finishing runner-up to No. 24 Austria in Group H of European qualifying. The Bosnians finished just two points back at 5-1-2. Like Canada, the Bosnians have been sweating the health of their captain.
But unlike Canada coach Jesse Marsch, Bosnian boss Sergej Barbarez had good news about his skipper’s availability for the opening match.
“Edin will be with us , of course,” he said through an interpreter at the pregame news conference Thursday. But Barbarez said Tabakovic, who injured his foot playing for Borussia Mönchengladbach in its Bundesliga season finale, will need more time. Bosnia-Herzegovina head coach Sergej Barbarez is a former national team player who once played professional poker. Dzeko, the team’s talismanic leader, has not played for his country since suffering a shoulder injury in the Italy game.
The 40-year-old striker did take part in the portion of training open to the media on Thursday, however. Known as the Bosnian Diamond, Dzeko is Bosnia-Herzegovina’s all-time leading scorer and most-capped player . Now playing in Germany’s second tier with Schalke 04, his club resume includes league titles in Germany and England .
“An important man,” said Memic. “It’s amazing to have him. ”Gary Mason: The World Cup is incredible. But it's hard to root for FIFATeenage winger Kerim Alajbegovic scored 13 goals and added four assists in 44 appearances this season for Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg after arriving from Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen in a €2-million transfer.
Those figures prompted Leverkusen to trigger his €8-million buyout clause to get the 18-year-old back. Arsenal, Aston Villa, Leeds, Napoli, Roma and Inter Milan are among the big clubs reportedly interested in Alajbegovic. Esmir Bajraktarevic, a 21-year-old winger who was born and raised in Wisconsin, scored the decisive final penalty against Italy in the European playoffs. Bajraktarevic started his career with the New England Revolution and won a cap for the U.S. before switching his international allegiance.
He now plays in the Netherlands for PSV Eindhoven. Armin Durgut/The Associated PressAccording to the Out of Context Football Manager X account, which boasts 387,000 followers, the Bosnians are tied with Norway as the tallest team at the tournament with an average height of 6-foo-2. Canada ranks 27th at 6-foot. Bosnia is also a hard-nosed outfit, committing 20 and 18 fouls against Wales and Italy, respectively, compared to eight and nine by the opposition.
“We know it’s going to be a tough game,” said midfielder Stephen Eustaquio, who will captain Canada with Alphonso Davies still rehabbing his hamstring. “Bosnia’s a very experienced and a hard team to play against. ” The Bosnian players who spoke to the media Thursday said they didn’t know much about Canada’s lengthy injury list. Barbarez won 47 caps for Bosnia-Herzegovina and captained the side.
A striker, he enjoyed success in Germany’s Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, Union Berlin and Hansa Rostock. Barbarez enjoyed a second career as a professional poker player before being named Bosnia-Herzegovina manager in April, 2024, on a four-year contract. He succeeded Savo Milosevic, whose contract was not extended after the Bosnians failed to qualify for the European Championship. It’s the second trip to the men’s soccer showcase for Bosnia-Herzegovina, which gained independence from Yugoslavia in March, 1992.
Dzeko and former Arsenal defender Sead Kolasinac, who now plays in Italy for Atalanta, are the lone holdovers from the 2014 World Cup team that lost 2-1 to Argentina and 1-0 to Nigeria, when the Bosnians had a goal controversially disallowed, before closing with a 3-1 win over Iran. Bosnia-Herzegovina was ranked as high as No. 13 in August, 2013, in the lead-up to the following year’s World Cup in Brazil.
Defender Tarik Muharemovic is a teammate of Canadian Ismaël Koné at Italy’s Sassuolo while midfielder Amir Hadziahmetovic, on loan from Turkey’s Besiktas, spent last season alongside Liam Millar at England’s Hull City. And former Canadian youth international Asmir Begovic started in goal for all three of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s games at the 2014 World Cup. Born in the former Yugoslavia, Begovic was 10 when the family moved to Edmonton.
Begovic, named Canada’s U-20 Player of the Year in 2007, never played for the Canadian senior side before switching international allegiance in 2009. After Canada, Bosnia-Herzegovina travels to Inglewood, Calif. , to face No. 19 Switzerland on June 18 before wrapping up group play against No. 56 Qatar in Seattle on June 24. , some of whom packed highway overpasses to welcome the team upon its weekend arrival in Toronto.
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