Bosnia and Herzegovina is no longer just a beautiful story of this year’s World Cup. After placing in the knockout phase, the Dragons have become one of the most interesting teams of the tournament, and the world’s largest media have been writing and talking about them in recent days.
The reputable The New York Times, through its sports platform The Athletic, published an extensive analysis of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team ahead of the duel with the United States of America. The article states that the Dragons may not have the widest playing staff in the Championship, but they have what many big teams don’t, character, resilience and the ability to bounce back when the going gets tough. In particular, they point out that Bosnia and Herzegovina showed mental strength through the barrage against Wales and Italy, which has now become its trademark.
American journalists singled out captain Edin Dzeko in particular, whom they call a symbol of a country. They recall his life’s journey from wartime Sarajevo to the status of one of the greatest football players in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, emphasizing that few players at the World Cup represent their country more strongly than him.
Young players who represent the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina also got a lot of space. football. Kerim Alajbegović, who is called one of the biggest talents of the tournament, and Esmir Bajraktarević, whose life story and decision to wear the shirt of Bosnia and Herzegovina are one of the symbols of the connection between the homeland and the diaspora, are especially apostrophized.
Bosnia and Herzegovina also attracted the attention of the television company FOX Sports, which analyzes the performances of the Dragons every day during the World Cup. After the draw against Canada, expert commentators, including Zlatan Ibrahimović and Thierry Henry, spoke about the organized play of Sergej Barbarez’s national team and pointed out that Bosnia and Herzegovina has the quality to be an unpleasant opponent for anyone in the tournament.
It was Ibrahimović who attracted special attention. The former Swedish national team player, who because of his family’s origins often speaks about Bosnia and Herzegovina with special emotions, shared footage and reactions related to Bosnia and Herzegovina during FOX’s program. fans, and among them the atmosphere with the song “I am from Bosnia, take me to America”, which became a kind of anthem of the Dragons at this championship. Those videos soon went viral on social networks.
Other major world media also write about Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the victory over Qatar, the British The Guardian pointed out that the Dragons wrote a new page in history by placing in the knockout phase, with the assessment that Sergej Barbarez’s team plays bravely, disciplined and has a new generation led by Kerim Alajbegović and Ermin Mahmić, with the experience of Edin Džeka and Sead Kolašinac.
Before the duel with Bosnia and Herzegovina, the American media warn that the selection of Mauricio Pochettino is not going to be an easy task at all. Analysts estimate that Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the most resistant national teams at the championship and a team that does not give up regardless of the result, which was already felt by Wales and Italy in the qualifiers, and then by Qatar at the World Cup.
From the story of the captain who is a symbol of the country, through the generation of young talents, to the fans who conquered the stands in the United States of America, today Bosnia and Herzegovina is not only a participant in the World Cup. It became one of his most beautiful stories, he writes N1 BiH.
