Bosnia still have fractured support

Football | World Cup 2014

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina departs for Lithuania Monday to prepare for the match on Tuesday which could open the door to the war-scarred country's first World Cup, but not everybody is euphoric.
Bosnia has suffered the worst fighting in wars that ended the former Yugoslavia, pitting Muslims, Serbs and Croats against each other from the declaration of independence until 1995.
The country is still divided along ethnic lines and scars from the violence are reflected on the support for the national football team, which is in a strong position to qualify for its first World Cup.
While the Muslims, or Bosniaks, are euphoric ahead of the decisive match against Lithuania, with Bosnia needing a win for direct passage to Brazil in 2014, the Serb and Croat media remain more neutral.
Friday's 4-1 thrashing of football minnows Liechtenstein was celebrated in Sarajevo, but not in the Serb and Croat hubs of Banjaluka and Mostar.


Most Bosnian Serbs support Serbia and not the country they live in. Maybe Serbia's failure to qualify will rouse more interest in how Bosnia and Herzegovina does, despite their leaders pressure for secession.
It is similar in western Bosnia, where Bosnian Croats are more interested in Croatia's upcoming barrage matches than in Lithuania.
But the multi-ethnic team is enjoying the good position in which it decides its own fate.
"Now we are only 90 minutes away from Brazil," the Serb newspaper Nezavisne Novine quoted midfielder Zvjezdan Misimovic as saying on Sunday.
Coach Safet Susic promised that his squad will "not play patiently, but will attack from the first minute and seek to lead."

Optimism is reflected in the plan to return the team - unchanged from Friday - home immediately after the match Tuesday, apparently for anticipated street celebrations of the World Cup ticket.
Bosnia's and VFB Stuttgart's striker Vedad Ibisevic says that the prolific scoring against Liechtenstein has boosted the team's confidence, but that players are aware of Lithuania's strength.
"The win was the most important and the ultimate goal," he told the Sarajevo newspaper Dnevni Avaz on Sunday. "We needed a win like this ... to score many goals and go to Kaunas with more confidence."
Lithuania will "without a doubt be harder," but Ibisevic promised that "we will go for a win without any calculation."

He dismissed pressure from the expectant public: "Every time we have pressure ... It will not be a problem in Kaunas, we know everything is up to us and we want to make our supporters happy."