ZENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina, April 1 : Bosnia pulled off a penalty shootout win over Italy on Tuesday to qualify for the World Cup for the second time, and manager Sergej Barbarez was the calmest man in Zenica as he praised his players’ character.
After coming from a goal down to beat Wales on penalties in Thursday’s semi-final, Bosnia put in a repeat performance to stun the four-time champions, as Italy failed to reach the finals for the third successive time.
“I told the players to go on the pitch and enjoy themselves,” Barbarez said.
“I’ve never entered or finished a game calmer, I saw it in their eyes, I really like them, they’re guys with character.
“We have guys we’re proud of, we’re two years ahead of schedule. Now I’ve told them that we have to go to a tournament every two years.”
Bosnia fell behind after 15 minutes, but despite Italy going down to 10 men before halftime, the hosts took until 11 minutes from time to equalise.
“At the beginning of the first half, we had some problems,” Barbarez said.
“We didn’t have organisation, we weren’t standing where we should have been, we weren’t taking care of the opponents. That’s why we conceded some counter-attacks.
“But against a world-class team that defends well even with 10 players, you saw we believed from the first moment.”
Bosnia’s 18-year-old winger Kerim Alajbegovic came off the bench and scored the winning penalty against Wales, but the manager resisted calls to start him against Italy, and the teenager came on again to score in the shootout.
“In the end, we decided we needed Kerim in our second plan,” the manager said.
“You see, he’s 18 years old, in his first senior season. Sometimes it’s good to do some things like this. He understands all of this, I talked to him.”
Bosnia defender Nikola Katic was emotional after the dramatic win.
“I’ve never cried after a game, I’m 29 years old, and now the tears have started,” he said.
“We showed all that great spirit and we crowned it all in these two matches against serious opponents.
“Everyone will be happier when they go to work tomorrow. I’m so proud. I’m shaking, I’ve got goosebumps. I’m talking, and I don’t even know what I’m talking about.”
