One Down, One to Go

Well, we did what we had to yesterday in Yerevan and came away with the expected 0-2 victory. Ćiro claims we went in with too much respect towards the opponent, Senijad Ibričić says that we didn’t have enough. One way or the other, the performance left something to be desired, in large part due to an ineffective midfield.

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.