The football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina will play against Qatar tonight at 21:00 CET in Seattle in the decisive match for the next stage of the competition.
It will be a duel of the 3rd round of Group B of the World Cup, and the winner of this match will win the third place in the group. At the official press conference, selector Sergej Barbarez and midfielder BH team Ivan Šunjić.
Bh. the team will be without Tarik Muharemović, who received a red card against Switzerland, and Amar Dedić should be in the lineup.
– In such a long tournament, it always happens that one or two players fail, someone gets a little injured, but nothing to worry about. Everyone, except for Tarik Muharemović, will be in the squad. It is never our goal to defend ourselves. There are always phases where the game calms down, where you want to let the opponent go because of various tactical ideas… It’s not a problem, it depends a lot on the opponent and the results. Today, no one does long-term pressing. Like our opponent, we want to win the game because it takes both teams forward. We will see whose desire is greater, and we hope that in the end it will be us, said selector Barbarez in the introduction.
Everyone sees BiH as the favorite against Qatar.
– The fact that we are classified as favorites does not change the way we will play. Qatar is better than us in the FIFA ranking, that’s why they are better than us. They are not here by accident. I hope that the match will be on the level, and whether we are favorites or not, we are not very interested in that.
Qatar first played 1:1 against Switzerland, and then experienced a debacle against Canada (0:6).
– I don’t believe much in surprises. Someone always has to have their day. Daily form can sometimes beat quality, that’s what I always say. Knowing their coach, and what kind of people they are, they will have no problem with pressure. There won’t be much defensive play as both teams will have to look for a result. I say again, I hope we will celebrate, says Barbarez, then continues:
– There were enough games where both teams have to win, so it ends in a draw. We have enough creativity, we don’t need to introduce anyone new in the midfield. Creativity will come to the fore. We always think of a plan B, and it will be the same this time.
Barbarez was also asked a question about Edina Dzeka, and he answered as follows:
– One and only. It is an honor to be his coach. I hope other players will follow in his footsteps.
In the end, BiH selector said:
– We have huge confidence, not only because of Italy and Wales, but also because of these two games we played here. Now we know what the world’s top is, what we lack, how much we lack… Every match brings us something and we learn something, Barbarez concluded.
Ivan Šunjić also hopes for success, and above all he talked about the fans.
– Support means a lot to us, the numbers at the stadiums are phenomenal, not only here but also in St. Louis. The mood is good, we had time to rest after Switzerland and we are ready to welcome this game, said Šunjić, who added that BiH. the team has a lot of confidence.
– Of course, the games against Wales and Italy give us confidence before this game. Not only those, but also the qualifications we had before that, but especially those two play-off games. This is a game we have to win, we are aware of that and we are ready, our midfielder points out.
And he got a question about Captain Jacky.
– It is an honor and a privilege to have Dzeko in the team. It helps all of us younger people and we should use it as much as possible, and I think we do. It is an honor to be with him and we hope it will continue to be like that, said Šunjić.
