Most football experts and “experts” claim that the most important thing is how the team enters the game, ie. the first fifteen minutes and – they are wrong.
We older people who remember the legendary coach Milan Živadinović remember his anthological sentence that 2:0 is the most dangerous result. Namely, it often happens that a team that has a “safe” lead in the end fails to preserve it until the end of the game.
The Swiss national team is at the premiere match at the 23rd World Cup against Qatar in stoppage time, conceded a goal, remained without two “safe” points, put into question the placement in the second round of the competition. We saw two goals in stoppage time in the match between France and Senegal. First, Mbaye scored a goal of hope for Senegal in the 95th minute, but that hope was “extinguished” by Mbappe in the very next minute, Zivadinović’s “rule” was not confirmed in that game, but…
The Bosnia and Herzegovina national team entered very well in the match against Switzerland. They withstood, without major problems, the attacks of the favored Swiss in the first fifteen minutes, established a field balance, were occasionally the better actor, missed two or three half-chances and – “material fatigue” occurred.
Amar Memic makes a beginner’s mistake and instead of throwing the ball into the corner, he returns it to the heart of the penalty area and “assists” Manzambi for the leading goal (74th). One mistake leads to another (red card for Muharemović) and everything that was done well for more than 70 minutes was wasted – in the 90th minute it was 3:0 for the Swiss. In stoppage time, Ermin Mahmić scored an honorary goal that could have meant a lot for the final ranking, but…
It’s over only when the referee plays it. Xhaka converted the penalty into a goal and provided the Swiss with three “extra” goals. The chances of Bosnia and Herzegovina winning second place in the group are now only in the realm of theory. This is how they have to beat Qatar and wait for the outcome in the other groups and hope to be among the eight best third-placed national teams.
It would be good for them to learn from this match that they must play equally engaged and concentrated from the first minute until the referee calls the end. Because the end result of the match is the only important thing, the “artistic impression” does not bring points.
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Bonus video: Jovo Lukić after BiH’s defeat by Switzerland
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