Vedad Ibišević, the scorer of the historic goal on October 15, 2013 in Kaunas in a 1:0 victory over Lithuania, with which the football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina won its only place in one of the major competitions, the World Cup played in Brazil 2014, believes that tomorrow in Vienna could be a new “historic match”.
“Hope and wish for victory and direct qualification to the World Championship next year in the United States, Canada and Mexico,” Ibisevic said in an exclusive interview with Vijesti.ba, adding:
“We have achieved our goal in these qualifications. We have a playoff and we are playing the ‘final’ in Austria without any major pressure. The boys need to play relaxed, with a lot of enthusiasm and fight like the second half against Romania. We all saw, and they also felt, that the second half against Romania was excellent”.
A recipe for triumph
Ibišević’s recipe for triumph over Austria – “respect without fear”.
“One should play, of course, without fear, but with all respect for Austria, because they are a really stable team. It will be a tough game for sure“, said Ibisevic.
Despite the fact that there is more pressure on our opponent, he believes that we should not be guided by the fact that “we have nothing to lose”.
“There is always something to lose. We all want to settle it tomorrow and win. You should ignore your emotions and focus on the field, what will happen in the match. They are not much better than us, which was also seen when we lost somewhat unluckily in Zenica. If we play as we know how, we have a real chance to win them tomorrow in Vienna,” Ibišević believes.
He also sees a chance in our young, excellent wing players Kerim Alajbegović and Esmir Bajraktarević.
“We finally have wing players on both sides who can handle one-on-one, one-on-two situations. The Austrians will know this and are certainly preparing for such a scenario. They have quality players who may defend against them a little more aggressively. They should be given time. We shouldn’t think that Kerim and Esmir can solve every game, but they have the quality to be the main players in the national team and the ones who will carry everything on their backs in the future,” claims Ibisevic.
When asked if the game in Kaunas could be a guide for the upcoming one at “Ernst Hapel”, he answered:
“It can. It’s a beautiful time and past. We have it here as a beautiful memory. But finally the time has come for these guys, let’s say new future stars. They are on the right path, so tomorrow could be a new historic match”.
The memory of a wonderful night in Kaunas
Emotionally, he once again remembered the wonderful, cool Kaunas night from 12 years ago.
“The pressure was enormous. We struggled to score against a weaker opponent. I was convinced that we would give it, and that would be it,” said Ibišvić, pointing out:
“When we scored and I saw the ball go into the net, a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Then I became aware that we were going to Brazil”.
Spoken by: Bakir Tiro
(Vijesti.ba)
