The game was tough to watch, but the disappointment isn’t nearly as great as it was against Denmark. The frustration in the air was hard to miss (most notably with the primitive idiot who threw objects at the referee), but the hurt wasn’t quite as bitter as I had expected. The lack of players crying on the field at the end testifies to this. Perhaps it’s because this young generation realizes that several more opportunities to qualify lie before it. For those to be any more successful, however, changes need to be made – changes that will ensure the stability, order and organization necessary for a truly successful qualifying run. Ciro’s crazy train had its moments of magic, but it came grinding to a halt in exactly the way many of us feared it would. It leaves in its wake a deeply disappointed nation and a volatile situation in the FA that is once again on the verge of erupting. A smooth transition to the next phase of Bosnian football history seems increasingly unlikely, and so we’re left to wait and see what course things will take in the ensuing days and weeks.

Haris Medunjanin has a somewhat different life story. Born and raised in Sarajevo’s (in)famous commieblock neighborhood of Ali-pašino polje, he left the country in the wake of the war for Western Europe, re-emerging at age 19 as the best young footballer in the Netherlands. He was part of the Dutch U21 team that achieved such notable success mid-decade, and earned the wrath of many Bosnian fans after apparently rejecting a call up to the Bosnia squad. What exactly happened is unclear, although with the kind of people running things in the FA at the time it seems clear Medunjanin deserves at least the benefit of the doubt. His career has never quite taken off as some might have hoped (allegedly lagging due to attitude problems), but somehow he still found his way to the Spanish La Liga. Playing semi-regularly for Valladolid, he’s currently the only Bosnian in perhaps the best league in the world. Oh, and has been on absolute fire and seemingly incapable of scoring an average goal. Blessed with a fantastic technique and a wicked left foot (not unlike his former neighbor at Ali-pašino and childhood idol, Elvir Baljić), Medunjanin has scored two fantastic goals in just the last week or so. I’ve included some youtube highlights of him below, not including either of these two recent strikes. To put it simply, I expect Haris to see some playing time as a substitute in these two games and I’m excited to see what he can do.

And I largely agree with the conventional wisdom. A draw against Greece would be fantastic, a draw against Portugal acceptable and a draw against either France or Russia serious trouble. Once again, I don’t think anyone is fooling themselves into thinking that Greece would be easy – they’re a very difficult side to play against. But between Gekas/Amanatidis and Džeko/Ibišević, well… I know which Bundesliga duo I would choose. We’d need for everything to fall into place and a fair bit of luck, but it would be the opportunity of a generation.

I’ll try to wake up early tomorrow and give my reaction to the actual draw.

Edit 1: And I’m awake. Ok… let’s do a live-blog kind of thing.

Edit 2: Sepp Blatter = dodgy uncle

Edit 3: Ok… France out of the way. So far so good.

Edit 4: And so Portugal it is. Could’ve been better, could’ve been worse. At least we have the deciding game at home. I think this is doable.

p.s. For anyone wondering what the hell happened to me (all two of you then), my computer with the password(s) for this blog had to go in for repairs. It was just my luck that Best Buy needed a little over 5 weeks to replace the keyboard. Maybe I could’ve figured out some round about way to keep on posting, but it was hard to motivate myself with a full load at college. Either way, the computer is back and so am I.

Fortunately, we got off to an early lead. Ibričić broke through the Armenia ranks in the sixth minute, heading the ball into the post and then heading again to send the rebound into the back of the next. After that we had a number of solid opportunities, ranging from a shot cleared off the line to a catastrophic Edin Džeko penalty. As the game wore on and we failed to capitalize on our chances, some flaws in our play began to appear and the Armenians, besides doing very well in midfield, even got a decent shot on goal. We were fortunate that Nemanja Supić was in surprisingly good form, making a number of solid interventions to justify his status in favor of newcomer Asmir Begović.

All that said, however, it was obvious that we were the better side; our technique and dribbling made the Armenians look plain foolish a couple of times, while Emir Spahić put in a man of the match performance at center back. When Miralem Pjanić and Zlatan Muslimović came in as jokers off the bench, our game noticeably picked up. It all came together in the 73rd minute, when Muslimović finished the play he had started at the halfway line, firing in a superb Džeko assist.

All eyes are now turned to the showdown with Turkey on Wednesday. Whatever issues we may have had playing against a lackluster Armenia team in a half empty stadium, I don’t expect them to trouble us in Zenica. The Turks simply have to win for any real shot at qualifying, but there will be absolutely no lack of motivation on our part either. The game will be epic, and football mania should rise to a fever pitch in Bosnia as the day draws near. Although Ćiro’s tactics remain a mystery (it’s not at all clear that he’ll play 4-4-2 like he did in Armenia), we’re all aware of the individual quality we posses. Turkey is a great team with a number of fantastic players, but on their day Edin Džeko, Vedad Ibišević, Zvjezdan Misimović, Emir Spahić, Sejad Salihović and the others can more than match them.

I’m not sure what to think about Ćiro’s decision. Hrgović is certainly not liked by Bosnia’s supporters, and he has a pretty bad relationship with Senijad Ibričić, who he got into a fight with at an indoor tournament last year. One of the key strengths of this team is its chemistry, and this could be like throwing a wrench into an otherwise well-oiled machine. On the other hand, Hrgović is only one man, and on his day one of the best options we have at his position. If Ćiro does start him out at left wing back, Hrgović could allow for Sejad Salihović to finally play a more offensive role. Whatever the case, here’s the full list of call-ups by position.

Keepers: Nemanja Supić, Kenan Hasagić, Asmir Begović

Defense: Emir Spahić, Dario Damjanović, Adnan Mravac, Sanel Jahić, Damir Mirvić, Boris Pandža, Safet Nadarević, Mirko Hrgović

Midfield: Elvir Rahimić, Samir Muratović, Semir Štilić, Sejad Salihović, Miralem Pjanić, Zvjezdan Misimović, Zlatan Bajramović, Senijad Ibričić,Admir Vladavić

Forwards: Edin Džeko, Vedad Ibišević, Zlatan Muslimović

In the meanwhile, some of our players’ club performances have been very encouraging. In particular, Miralem Pjanić scored a fantastic free kick in Lyon’s Champions League tie against Anderlecht, and followed it up today with another goal in Ligue 1. Emir Spahić continues to impress, scoring another goal in the last round and doing well in today’s action as well. David James’ injury in Portsmouth’s match against Arsenal today meant that Asmir Begović got another opportunity between the sticks, which he used to at least stop Pompey’s bleeding in the last twenty minutes (they had let in five until then); assuming that James will be out for at least a week, Begović will have a fantastic opportunity to get some Premiership action and stake a claim for the starting spot in the qualifiers against Armenia and Turkey. Also, we may soon have another player in the premiership: Sanel Jahić seems to be on the verge of signing with Hull City.

16 goals in der ersten Liga might warrant a transfer to FK Sarajevo, but a call-up to the national team is quite a stretch. With all due respect to Mirnel, him making the cut is an insult to all the quality players who didn’t (Ermin Zec comes to mind). What makes it particularly frustrating is that Sadović is a forward, by far our strongest position. I only wonder how much money Munib Ušanović got for this one. Whatever the amount, a good deal of it will probably be spent on Ilidža’s whores and kafane. Unbelievable.

2. In a (somewhat) dramatic turn around from my original post on him, Asmir Begović seems to have firmly decided to play for Bosnia-Herzegovina. Wait, what? Well, following Ćiro’s call-up to the friendly, Asmir clarified some things in another interview or two with the Sarajevo press. He explained loud and clear that he intends to play for Bosnia, but had denied it during the infamous radio interview because he hadn’t yet spoken to anyone from the Canadian FA and didn’t want them to hear it from the media first. He also said that he hoped to be able to come to the preparations for the August 12th friendly in order to meet the team, but that he probably couldn’t make the game itself as his wife was scheduled to give birth on the same day. He assured fans that he’d be available for the qualifiers against Armenia and Turkey.

Asmir is apparently set to go out to some Scottish club on loan, which means he’ll probably be getting valuable first-team experience in a fairly decent European league. As far as the national team goes, I can see him as our starting goalkeeper by the end of the year. Much of it depends on Hasagić’s health, but I honestly can’t see Supić providing too much of a challenge. On a related note, I will never understand the fans’ bizzare love for Nemanja Supić. He did well enough when called upon, but from the way he’s treated on the Bosnian internet you’d think he was the second coming of Enver Marić.

Beyond that, I don’t really have much to say. The topic has been done to death on both sides of the Atlantic, often getting hyperemotional and way too political. Whatever. Sorry Canada.

3. The new season is starting up across Europe, and our players have already put in some nice performances. I watched both Wolfsburg v. Stuttgart and Hoffenheim v. Bayern, and our Bundesliga quartet played fairly well. Zvjezdan Misimović scored a fantastic goal from just outside the box to seal the game for Wolfsburg (first of the Bundesliga season… Youtube clip below), and Edin Džeko created a couple of nice opportunities that he failed to punctuate with a goal. Sejad Salihović had a very nice game against Bayern, playing a little more forward than last year, while Vedad Ibišević made a nice assist for the team’s only goal and nearly scored himself with a header. Meanwhile, in France, Emir Spahić couldn’t have wished for a better start with Montpellier, scoring a 90th minute equalizer against Paris Saint-Germain in his Ligue 1 debut. Montpellier had been down a man for much of the game, making Spahić’s performance at CB all the more impressive. Also, potential returnee Haris Van Međunjanin scored against Wolverhampton.

4. As far as the game itself… what to say? I’m in Sarajevo at the moment, so I’ll be able to head out and see it from the stadium myself. From what I’ve heard, Iran is missing several key players due to the aftershock of this summer’s political events, which should make our job quite a bit easier. Fair enough if you ask me. We’ve already played several friendlies with Iran in recent years and it’s almost always ended up with a defeat on the field and chaos off of it. Why? Because our corrupt FA officials (most notably the departed Ahmet Pašalić) arranged to get bags full of cash under the table from their Iranian counterparts. In return, Iran would get to play a friendly against a real “European” team and prove their footballing prowess by defeating our motley crew of disgruntled veterans and anonymous nobodies (think Mirnel Sadović). Well now it’s time for revenge. This is the last opportunity to hone our tactics before facing Armenia, and so our players will take it seriously. On paper, anything less than a convincing win would be a disappointment.

That said, a couple of recent developments have probably forced Ćiro to shuffle and re-shuffle his line up. As I mentioned earlier, Begović won’t be playing because he’s expecting the birth of his first child on the same day. Similarly, Misimović will be staying behind in Germany due to some problems with his father’s health. The first bit of news leaves Nemanja Supić’s starting spot assured, while the second means that Misimović won’t even play a single half. Seeing as we can’t count on Miske for the qualifier against Armenia, it’s probably better that way. Who exactly will replace him, however, is still less than clear. On the injury front, Zlatan Muslimović and Elvir Rahimić both wont be able to show up, but the latter can now be replaced by Zlatan Bajramović, who apparently no longer feels any pain in his big toe (fingers crossed). With all this in mind, my projected line up is on the right; perhaps not ideal, but more than enough to deal with a depleted Iran squad.

Keepers: Asmir Begović, Adis Nurković, Nemanja Supić

Defense: Sanel Jahić, Adnan Mravac, Damir Mirvić, Safet Nadarević, Boris Pandža, Ivan Radeljić, Emir Spahić

Midfield: Zlatan Bajramović, Dario Damjanović, Senijad Ibričić, Zvjezdan Misimović, Samir Muratović, Miralem Pjanić, Elvir Rahimić, Sejad Salihović, Semir Štilić

Forwards: Edin Džeko, Vedad Ibišević, Zlatan Muslimović, Admir Vladavić

So here are they key points to consider.

1. It looks like we’re finally set to have a final resolution to the whole Begović soap opera. As you’ll remember from my last post, Begović caused a stir earlier in the month when he apparently appeared on some left-field Canadian radio station and abruptly claimed that he never had any interest in playing for Bosnia-Herzegovina and that it had all been a big misunderstanding. Munib Ušanović, our beloved general secretary, seemed to (for once) do his job, firing back in the Sarajevo press that the paperwork had already been sent to FIFA and that he was in daily contact with Begović’s father. He even threatened to sue the Canadian FA for dragging their feet in the matter and let the papers run a copy of Begović’s signed statement to FIFA requesting a change in sporting nationality.

So what the hell is going on?

Well, come August 12th, we’ll know for sure. Begović now has a call up to a legitimate friendly and no excuses for not showing up. If he does, we have our keeper for the future. If he doesn’t, we can finally and conclusively put the issue behind us.

2. In general, this is a very good list. When I think back to some of the nobodies that were forced into the team by their agents in years past (Mario Bozic what?), well I guess we have a lot to be thankful for. It’s not that every player here is the kind of quality that I would like to see in the Bosnian national team, but at the moment this really is the best we’ve got. And you know what? That’s comforting.

3. The line-up is easy enough to put together. Ćiro has been playing 3-5-2 since the days of Šuker and Prosinečki, and it’s proven to be most effective formation for us as well. Supić is going to start between the sticks, but Begović is probably already the better player and we could see him as well if he actually shows up. Spahić, Nadarević and Pandža worked great in central defense last time, and if it’s not too broke then there’s no need for Ćiro to try and fix it. Salihović will again be forced back to play as a left wing-back, and since Berberović is injured we’ll probably see Sanel Jahić step in as his counterpart on the right (thank God). Elvir Rahimić is a lock for the middle, and his partner will probably be Samir Muratović, who’s secured his spot in the national team even if he just got into deep shit on the club level. With Vedad Ibišević completely healthy and back in form (he just scored against Panathinaikos), we’ll finally get to see his long-awaited partnership with Edin Džeko back in action.

4. But wait – I forgot the attacking midfielder. And therein lies the issue. Under normal circumstances, Bundesliga record-breaking Zvjezdan Misimović is the obvious choice, but due to accumulated cards he wont be available in the upcoming qualifier against Armenia. That means that we need to find a replacement quick, and the game against Iran is probably the last chance we’ll have to try one out. Now, many will suggest Semir Štilić, who’s making a strong case to become Misimović’s successor, and some will even put forward Pjanić. At the end of the day, however, I think the spot will likely go to Senijad Ibričić. Why? First and foremost because Ćiro loves him and continuously tries to find a place for him in the line-up; if he’s been able to put him in at left wing-back and striker, then what’s going to stop him from giving him a shot at his natural position? And although a lot of fans are starting to get annoyed by Ibričić (partly due to Ćiro’s favoritism and partly because his refusal to leave the subpar Croatian league has begun to boarder on the absurd), it’s important to remember that he was the man orchestrating the midfield behind – wait for it – Džeko and Ibišević, way back in that fantastic youth team a couple of years ago. That U-21 generation has already become the backbone for the current A-team (Pandža, Salihović, Džeko, Ibišević), and it’d be nice to see Ibričić reprise his role as the playmaker against a relatively weaker opposition.

Since Felix Magath has admitted that he will be leaving Wolfsburg for Schalke at the end of the season, it’s become increasingly clear that Džeko isn’t particularly interested in staying behind. He recently revealed to the German press that he’s keeping his options open, and Bosnian media claim that his manager has already traveled to London for talks with Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. All three are interested, together with just about every other major club in the world that’s looking for a striker. AC Milan probably has the best chance out of the continental clubs, as not only have they been following Džeko for some time, they are also his favorite club from childhood (or second to Željezničar at least). As much as I don’t like the Serie A, I think Milan would be a great fit; not only is it one of the most famous clubs in the world, but you’d assume that Džeko would almost be guaranteed a starting spot (half of the Rossoneri strike-force is on the verge of retirement). Arsenal seems like the next likeliest candidate, since Mostar-native and trusted Wenger-assistant Boro Primorac has been trackin Džeko since he first arrived in the Bundesliga. Given Džeko’s stated desire to move to the Premiership, I’d even say that a move to the Emirates is the most likely option. With Arsenal, however, much depends on what happens with Adebayor (and maybe even van Persie and Bendtner). Similarly, Chelsea’s interest probably hinges on the possible sale of Drogba. To round out the big four, Liverpool and Manchester United are also both interested, but I don’t see him starting out at either of the two beyond rotation, and Džeko will be looking to move somewhere where he can play right away. Given all of this, I’d give the edge to Milan and Arsenal, with the latter slightly in front. Of course, with so many clubs interested, anything is possible. Anything except Sunderland at least.

- Of course, in highlighting Džeko and Grafite’s contributions to Wolfsburg’s title run, I’ve neglected to mention the remaining member of the Wolves’ trinity: Zvjezdan Misimović. Our offensive mastermind has been pulling the strings from Wolfsburg’s midfield, and has had the best season of his career in the process, tallying somewhere between 19 or 21 assists. The exact number depends on whether you believe Kicker or Sportbild respectively, but both agree on one thing: whatever the figure, Miske has just set the Bundesliga’s single-season assist record. This is a fantastic achievement by any count, and a sure measure that Misimović has entered the prime of his career.

On the verge of turning 27, Misimović has not attracted the same interest from big-name clubs as his teammate and compatriot. The situation with Magath, however, has raised doubts about his future as well. Misimović has brushed off the speculation for the moment, claiming that he hasn’t had any concrete offers, but nonetheless making to sure to leave the door open by noting “Who knows what the summer will bring?” Although his relative lack of speed has always brought his value down, a rumored 8 million Euro release clause in his contract would surely be enough to lure the interest of top clubs from Germany and elsewhere. With the recent soap operas surrounding Diego and Ribéry, two of the Bundesliga’s top clubs may be looking for reinforcements in midfield, and Misimović could well fit the bill. Whether anything will materialize, however, remains to be seen. Bayern is a particularly appealing option, as this will likely be Misimović’s last chance to play in one of Europe’s top clubs. From the sound of it, however, Uli Hoeneß is pretty hostile to the idea, perhaps still smarting from the fact that he gave Zvjezdan away for nothing only a few years ago.

- Unfortunately, two players who probably won’t be moving to any top clubs are Hoffenheim’s Vedad Ibišević and Sejad Salihović. Both are young (24) players who played crucial roles in the village club’s early season fairytale. Unfortunately, after setting the scoring charts ablaze and attracting interest from the likes of Manchester United and Inter Milan, Ibišević suffered a terrible injury in January that he’s only now recovered from. Not surprisingly, Hoffenheim’s form took a nose-dive towards mid-table following this disaster, and Salihović’s stock inevitably dropped after a string of sub-par performances. The future looks bright, with Ibišević back in training and Salihović spearheading recent Hoffenheim victories, but neither of the two will be making the blockbuster moves that some were predicting back in December.

From a Bosnian perspective, however, their performances in the Bundesliga (together with those of Misimović and Džeko) have hardly been in vain. This year has seen a surge in interest for Bosnian players and talents on the part of German clubs, and that can only be a good thing for Bosnian football and the national team. Ermin Zec, one of the Croatian league’s biggest talents, is free from his contract with HNK Šibenik at the end of the season, and had been linked with a free transfer to Schalke even before infamous Bosniophile Magath decided to move to Gelsenkirchen. Lech Poznan maestro Semir Štilić has already been linked with various illustrious German clubs, and he could well make a move over the summer as well. Even a relatively unknown Bosnian-American defensive talent, Nurdin Hrustić, is apparently on the verge of signing with Borussia Dortmund.

- Following our schooling of their national team in Genk and Zenica, a similar situation has developed in Belgium. Defender Safet Nadarević, currently toiling away in the Turkish top-flight, has aroused the interest of Anderlecht, with the Brussels club also casting an eye on captain Emir Spahić. Both of these players are expected to move somewhere during this transfer window, and Anderlecht seems like an attractive destination for someone at Nadarević’s level. The Krajišnik is rumored to be looking for a move to England, however, and more power to him if he manages one. Spahić’s situation is a little different, since he’s actually been without a club since the “messy divorce” with Lokomotiv, but he’s too big a name not to have one by the time we face Armenia and Turkey. His story has been one of the more disappointing ones for Bosnian fans this year, with many hoping that he could still move to a reputable club like PSG or Hamburger SV. As of right now, however, I don’t think anyone outside of Spahić’s closest friends has any idea where he’ll continue his career. But let’s get back to Belgium. Admir Aganović and Sulejman Smajić have had excellent seasons at FCV Dender, and some are saying that they’ll be making a move up sooner rather than later. All in all, it adds up to make for an exciting summer transfer window for fans of Bosnian football.

Slišković’s role in the whole circus is somewhat ambiguous. There’s no denying that plenty of questionable call-ups went in and out through the national team’s revolving doors in those years, but it’s hard to say whether Slišković was just obeying orders or behind some of the shady dealings himself. Many of his former players have nothing but good things to say about him, but fans were by and large fed up with the man, especially given his notoriously erratic tactics and playing formations (he infamously put Sergej Barbarez in at libero).

Since he left the national team at the onset the catastrophic Euro 2008 qualifiers, Slišković has managed a number of small Balkan clubs, ranging from Mostar’s Zrinjski to KF Tirana. The Bosnian press occasionally reports on his career, noting his arrivals, early successes and then nosediving failures. For the most part, however, Slišković had largely stayed out of the media spotlight in the past few years, confined to the inside pages of various sports-focused publications.

Then this:

Translation: Slišković claimed during a radio interview in Mostar that Blažević was bringing in players to the national team for money. He specifically mentioned Marko Topić, last season’s second-leading scorer in the Russian league. Topić, a Bosnian Croat, was one of the first non-Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) to play for the national team after the war. He has been a fan favorite throughout, but suddenly disappeared from the national team in the six years that Slišković was coach. Slišković also claimed that certain players betrayed him and sold away the crucial EURO 2008 home qualifiers against Hungary and Greece. Naturally, Bosnia’s major sports media outlets quickly ran his remarks as front-page news.

So what has happened in this media war since this opening shot? Well, first Blažević immediately denied the charges, saying that he had great respect for Slišković, but that the man was probably drunk and looking for attention after being chased out of Tirana (Blažević’s words, not mine). Blažević also claimed that he would call Topić up again for the next match, while Topić himself had his own interview in which he called Slišković sick and threatened legal action. Captain Emir Spahić also chimed in, expressing surprise that Slišković would say something like that, and adamantly maintaining that no one “sold” the above-mentioned EURO 2008 qualifying games. Slišković then reappeared in the media, claiming that his words were being manipulated and taken out of context, but that he stood by his earlier accusations nonetheless. He also added some new ones, claiming that he decided not to call up Topić after he saw the striker throw his cleat at former coach Mišo Smajlović during a training session. Topić angrily countered that the reason he didn’t play in the national team for six years was that Slišković and former director Ahmet Pašalić were asking him to pay them under the table for a call up. Smajlović himself has now come out and denied Slišković’s charges about an altercation between him and Topić.

Crazy, huh?

Personally, although I’m no great fan of Blažević, I think Slišković is just bitter over the success and adoration that Ćiro has had in his tenure at the helm of the national team. These are pretty heavy accusations flying around, but I don’t think anyone in Bosnia is actually taking them seriously, and more than likely they’ll blow over long before our next qualifier against Armenia comes up. Far more exciting right now is the Bundesliga table, with Edin Džeko and Zvjezdan Misimović spearheading Wolfsburg’s push for its first ever title.

- Not surprisingly, our dramatic success in this latest round of qualifiers saw us jump 20-places in the FIFA rankings, to 36th in the world and 24th in Europe. We seem to have surprised everyone but ourselves with this, as we were voted “biggest surprise” on Fifa.com’s recent front page poll, and Western football media in general have been full of praise in the last two weeks. This rankings surge sees us finally (and justifiably) climb back into UEFA’s 3rd pot. I know I’m not alone among Bosnians in believing that a footballing country with our talent and tradition belongs in the 2nd pot and somewhere between #20-30 in the world rankings (closer to #20). I fully expect this situation to fix itself by the end of qualifying.

- Another consequence of the Belgium games it that our players are suddenly in high demand again. First and foremost amongst them is Edin Džeko, who followed up his stellar performance in the qualifiers by scoring a brace in Wolfsburg’s recent demolition of Bayern. Media from any number of countries have been wild about him recently, but I won’t bother listing all the separate scraps of transfer information I’ve picked up over the internet. Instead, I’ll merely list the clubs that have been linked to him in the past 10 days or so:

Manchester United, Arsenal, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, AS Roma, Lyon, Hamburger SV, Villareal, Marseille, Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Everton, Paris SG, Fullham, Lokomotiv Moscow and Sunderland.

Enough said.

But Džeko isn’t our only player currently in demand; several of the other starters impressed scouts from a number of the big-name clubs. Emir Spahić is particularly adamant about moving this summer, and rumor has it that he impressed scouts from Hamburg, even though they had originally come for Semir Štilić. Similarly, Galatasaray came to evaluate Zlatan Muslimović and instead left with praise for our univerzalac Sanel Jahić. Hajduk Split’s Boris Pandža and Senijad Ibričić also impressed. Even Safet Nadarević has been linked with Anderlecht, but rumors maintain that he’s actually preparing for a move to England. As long as these players finish their club seasons on a similar level that they showed in the World Cup qualifiers, I expect that the summer transfer window will be an interesting one for Bosnian football.

- The last thing I wanted to touch upon was our chance of qualifying for World Cup 2010. As I mentioned earlier, we are now firmly in 2nd place, 4 points ahead of 3rd place Turkey. Barring a miracle, Belgium is effectively out of the picture. With four games left, we effectively control our destiny. Sure, that infamous game against Denmark presented us with a more immediate chance of qualifying, but we have never been this close at this stage of qualifying. The way I see it, our remaining matches can be split into three categories.

Must win: Armenia (A), Estonia (A)
Should win: Turkey (H)
Could win: Spain (H)

We have the great advantage that our schedule is pretty favorable to us; our away games are against the two weakest teams in our group, while we face our toughest opponents at home. I think the general mentality right now is that we’re going into the rest of qualifying with the goal of winning all of our games until Spain. We are, objectively speaking, a better team than either Armenia or Estonia, and to qualify for a major tournament we simply can’t afford to lose any points there. Turkey, being our direct competitor for the playoff spot, is particularly tricky. A win would (barring some unprecedented disaster in Armenia) guarantee the play-off spot. A draw would do just as well as long as we won our two away games. A loss… well let’s not even think about it.

So, as I said above, we’re really going into this with the goal of winning our next three games. This means that if Spain, currently six points ahead, stumbles in one of its next three matches, a win in our final showdown would give us first place in the group. This might sound a little far-fetched to some, but I really don’t think we have anything to fear from Spain… I think the last game in Bosnia will be wide open, with any of the possible results equally likely. Unfortunately, Spain’s schedule from here on out doesn’t look promising for this scenario to occur; it’s next three matches are Belgium (H), Estonia (H) and Armenia (A). Our best bet is to hope that Belgium, under a new coach, can spring a surprise in Iberia. Either way, however, our destiny is in our own hands as far as the play-off goes. It’s way too early to talk about possible opponents, since 2nd place in most of the groups is still wide open. As things currently stand, I give us a 50-50 spot of qualifying if we make the play-off, depending largely on who we’re drawn against. Of course, we first have to make it to the play-off, but it’s not too early to dream, especially while this line-up exists in my head:

Till next time.