by Sasa Ibrulj
In the absence of Edin Džeko, Stoke City’s keeper captained his country for the first time. Instead, it proved to be a disaster as the Dragons were scattered 3-0 by a motivated Israel. Despite conceding three times, Begovic was still the best Bosnian player on the night.
“Disgrace. Everyone is at fault for this loss. The whole team, the coach, the people from the FA,” he shouted into the national TV’s microphones, sending the nation a loud and clear message. “It’s embarrassing to play like this. I’ve never seen a team to give up so easily. I’ve never expected to see that in my life. It’s OK to lose, but to play like we played; I just don’t have words to describe how I feel. It can’t go on like this. It just can’t.”
Defeat to Israel means that Bosnia and Herzegovina sit second-from-bottom, just above Andorra, with two points from four matches played in Group B. Even though this year they played at their first-ever major tournament and entered the Euro 2016 qualifiers as the top-seeded team for the first time, the Bosnians are lagging seven points behind leaders Israel, Wales, Belgium and Cyprus, failing to beat any of those four teams so far.
“We’ve been outplayed,” Bosnian manager Safet Sušic said after he and his team returned to Sarajevo on Monday. “At some moments of the match we looked ridiculous. I don’t know what happened. But, I do not see the reason to resign. I do not feel responsible.”
A couple of hours later, the NFSBiH (Bosnian FA) sacked him.
Sušic may be the most successful Bosnia-Herzegovina manager in recent history but he sacrificed himself on Sunday. After months of stubborn and delusional decisions that undermined his own team and ruined the impression he left in the World Cup qualifying campaign, this was just his nadir — the end of a journey that turned him from a national hero to being despised by the very same nation. Now, Bosnia are further away from Euro 2016 than anyone could have imagined, and with a team in chaos.
While the next big challenge for unemployed Sušic will be to figure out his next move, his legacy is causing a serious headache to the NFSBiH, who must now quickly find his successor.
Bosnia has more than 120 days before their next qualifier (March 28 in Andorra) and it is more likely that the manager’s position will be vacant for at least the next month. Of course, speculation started even before Sušic was sacked — media and fans currently seem to favour Vahid Halilhodžic as the next Bosnia boss.
Halilhodžic, who played for Velež Mostar before he moved to France to represent Nantes and Paris-Saint Germain, left his most recent post at Trabzonspor after only two months in charge. He made his name in Ligue 1 with Lille, PSG and Rennes, was the manager of Ivory Coast and impressed with Algeria in Brazil last summer. However, with his quality and reputation comes a high price that Bosnia is probably not able to pay.
Other names being mentioned range anywhere from Mehmed Baždarevic (who also worked in France with Istres, Grenoble and Sochaux), Faruk Hadžibegic (Betis, Troyes, Bastia, Arles-Avignon), who briefly managed Bosnia back in 1999, and former captain Sergej Barbarez, whose critics highlight the fact that he has yet to coach a senior team.
According to reports in Bosnia, the most serious contender could be Robert Prosinecki, a former Croatian international who assisted Slaven Bilic in Croatia for years before he took over Red Star Belgrade and worked in Turkey with Kayserispor. Regardless of whoever gets to be the chosen one, the fact that Bosnians are already far behind their opponents in Group B and have a slim chance of qualifying won’t actually be the biggest issue to tackle in the job.
(Source: espnfc)
