According to him, the BiH national team has played many matches over the years that were called historic, but he sees this duel differently.
– I think we played a lot of so-called historic matches, so I wouldn’t call the duel against Italy historic, but rather a duel that is the beginning of the creation of a new generation of the Bosnia and Herzegovina football team. We have young guys from 18-20 up to 26 years old, Dzeko and Kolašinac are the only older ones and I think we will see this generation for at least ten to 15 years at the highest world level and in the biggest world and European competitions – said Spaho for Fena.
He states that a victory against the four-time world champion would be an ideal start to the representative journey for young players.
– It would be really great for these young guys to start their representative journey with a victory against the four-time world champion, against one of the most respected football teams in the world, in a game that is so important and leads to the World Cup – he pointed out.
Spaho expects a tactically cautious game in which Italy could have more possession. He believes that the match will not be dynamic, but that so-called positional football will be played. He expects that the Italians will probably have possession of the ball due to their quality in the middle of the field, but, knowing how Gennaro Gattuso thinks, he believes that they will not force or attack our goal, but will wait for a mistake by the BiH team.
On the other hand, he expects that the BiH national team will primarily take care of defense and try to threaten through the transition.
– We will primarily take care of the defense of our goal and try to look for Edin Džeka in transition. We know he can put the ball away well. After a long time we have great young wings, Esmira and Kerim and I think they can be an advantage. After those failures in Cardiff, it seems to me that it is time for Ermedin Demirović to get a little lucky and score a goal – he said.
Spaho points out that regardless of the outcome of the match, it is clear that the BiH national team has made great progress in the last year and a half.
– This is the beginning of a new era of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s representative football, and no matter how it ends, we cannot be dissatisfied. These young men have already made incredible strides in the last year or year and a half. Let’s remember that we lost to Luxembourg, that we conceded seven goals to Germany in Freiburg. Now we are playing practically on an equal footing with the best and we are playing a match to qualify for the World Cup, which a year or a year and a half ago seemed like an almost impossible mission – he emphasized.
Spaho does not rule out the scenario of no goals and the game going into extra time or penalties. As he said, he is sure that both teams practiced penalties.
He especially highlighted the quality of the goalkeepers of both national teams, and noted that Nikola Vasilj is, as we like to say, a doctor for penalties, but the same applies to perhaps the best goalkeeper in the world at the moment, Gianluigi Donnarumma.
– We remember that he brought the European title to Italy in 2020 by defending the penalty in the final against England, so the chances in the penalty shootout would be fairly equal – believes Spaho.
Finally, he looked at the group at the World Cup, which will include the winner of the duel between Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with Qatar, Canada and Switzerland.
– The new format of the World Cup with 48 national teams brings several groups that may not be so attractive, but that group is not at all harmless. Switzerland is playing outstandingly, at the last European Championship they had great performances and just beat Italy in the round of 16. Canada played in the last World Cup and has a serious team with players who play in big European clubs – Spaho said and added that Qatar should not be underestimated either, because it is a country that invested a lot in football and hosted the World Cup.
(Vijesti.ba / FENA)
