The Spherical of 32 on the 2026 World Cup is already off to an exhilarating begin, and on Wednesday, the USA males’s nationwide workforce will lastly get their likelihood to hitch the enjoyable. The will face off towards Bosnia and Herzegovina in Santa Clara, California, for his or her first sport of the knockout spherical.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, whereas nonetheless a relative newcomer to the World Cup, has a historical past of gritty wins that would make for an sudden problem. Right here are some things to know in regards to the workforce earlier than the U.S. takes the sphere towards the Zmajevi (the Dragons).
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1. That is Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second look within the World Cup, and first knockout look
Bosnia and Herzegovina is located within the Balkans, a area with a protracted historical past of violence and battle. As soon as a part of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina grew to become an impartial nation in 1992.
From there, the nation additionally started to compete independently in FIFA competitions. Bosnia and Herzegovina made its first World Cup look in 2014, defeating to get its first-ever match win. And now, with their return in 2026, the Zmajevi have exceeded expectations as soon as once more. A draw over host nation and a dominant win towards was sufficient to ship Bosnia and Herzegovina by means of to the subsequent spherical as a high third-place ending squad.
2. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s captain is the most-capped participant within the nation’s historical past
Bosnia and Herzegovina are lead by captain Edin Džeko, a 40-year-old veteran ahead who can be one of the vital legendary gamers within the nation’s historical past. Džeko’s first senior workforce look was again in 2007; he was on the roster for the nation’s solely different World Cup look in 2014. Džeko has 150 caps and 73 objectives for his nation, and is celebrating his twentieth yr on the senior workforce by serving to lead Bosnia and Herzegovina to the World Cup knockout spherical.
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“Getting right here was by no means simple. It is nonetheless not whenever you’re 40, and your again is screaming the subsequent morning, and you need to attain for the painkillers once more,” Džeko wrote in a letter earlier this month. “However after I stroll out on the pitch, I nonetheless really feel like a child, like one in every of you, with butterflies in my abdomen and stars in my eyes.”
3. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a historical past of hanging robust towards favored opponents
Attending to the World Cup is rarely simple, however it may be notably tough in a stacked UEFA subject. The expanded 48-team World Cup subject supplied Bosnia and Herzegovina an opportunity to interrupt by means of, however it took two penalty shootout wins within the qualifying playoff to make it in.
In a semifinal towards Wales, Džeko obtained an equalizer within the 86th minute, and the workforce received 4-2 in penalty kicks. That arrange a ultimate towards , which was desperately vying for a return to the match, however one other late equalizer — this time within the 79th minute, from — despatched the sport to PKs once more. Bosnia then received 4-1, sealing a win with a ultimate penalty kick from 21-year-old (extra on him later).
Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrates beating Italy within the World Cup qualifiers with head coach Sergej Barbarez.
(Picture Picture Company through Getty Pictures)
And at this match, when opening the group stage towards Canada in entrance of a Canadian dwelling crowd in Vancouver, Bosnia did not blink. Ahead Jovo Lukić discovered the again of the online first to provide Bosnia and Herzegovina the lead; it was Canada that needed to power an equalizer to salvage some extent towards the Europeans.
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4. One of many Bosnian mainstays has a USMNT cap
For American followers, one of many gamers to look at on opposing squad is Esmir Bajraktarević, a 21-year-old ahead who . Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, Bajraktarević is the kid of Bosnian mother and father who fled to the States whereas escaping genocide in Srebrenica, their hometown.
Bajraktarević then got here up by means of the MLS youth system, first by means of the Chicago Fireplace and later the . He now performs for membership PSV, alongside USMNT gamers Sergiño Dest and .
As an American-born participant, Bajraktarević had an opportunity to play for the USA — and did, recording a handful of look for the youth nationwide groups. He even obtained a senior workforce cap in 2024 beneath Gregg Berhalter, however opted to modify to the Bosnian workforce with the intention to guarantee his taking part in time. That selection seems to have paid off: Bajraktarević now has 19 caps with the workforce, beginning in two of the group stage video games and subbing on for the third.
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“He selected the opposite facet, however hopefully he’ll … remorse [it] after Wednesday,” Dest this week.
5. Bosnia and Herzegovina was the USMNT’s final win over a European workforce
It has been almost 5 lengthy years because the USMNT beat a workforce from Europe, towards European opponents. Within the run as much as the World Cup, the U.S. misplaced friendlies to , and ; the third group stage match, towards Türkiye, supplied one other likelihood to interrupt that streak, however the USMNT’s off a last-minute aim.
However the final European opponent that the U.S. did beat, sarcastically, was Bosnia and Herzegovina. On Dec. 18, 2021, the People defeated the Zmajevi 1-0 in a pleasant, off an 89th-minute aim from . (It was the one worldwide cap and worldwide aim for Bassett.)
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That units up a poetic likelihood for the USMNT to lastly break the cycle towards the final workforce they had been capable of finest. Bosnia has confirmed to be a workforce to not underestimate, so it will not be simple, however it is going to supply the chance for the Stars and Stripes to place their finest foot ahead at dwelling.