Bosnia and Herzegovina coach unfazed by American banter against team at World Cup

SANTA CLARA – Bosnia and Herzegovina coach Sergej Barbarez has shrugged off American slights against his team, saying they need no extra motivation for their World Cup round-of-32 clash against the United States.

Former US goalkeeper Tim Howard said on a podcast that the Bosnians were in for a brutal reality check at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco on July 1 (July 2, Singapore time), while a network reporter mocked the nation on live TV before later apologising.

The 54-year-old Barbarez said the hot takes were inevitable in the social media age and had no effect on the team.

“I have to admit things like that happen on a daily basis,” he told reporters on June 30.

“We are a small country and sometimes things like that happen, but I have no problem with it.

“My boys don’t have a problem with it... You’re playing for a place in the round of 16.

“If that’s not motivation enough, then I don’t really notice things like that.”

Opposing coach Mauricio Pochettino was not embracing the co-hosts being favourites in his pre-match media conference, but Barbarez had little doubt.

“Look, of course they are favourites. Their place in the rankings, they are the hosts, the names in their team – definitely,” he said.

“We never had a problem with being the underdog.

“This role, this word, doesn’t mean anything to me. You can throw this word around.

“It’s important what happens on the pitch and this is what I’m interested in. This is what we are interested in.”

Bosnia’s players compete in leagues all over the world, including US-born attacker Esmir Bajraktarevic, who Barbarez said had brought a unique perspective to the team.

“Those touches of American culture are also very important because we have guys who were born all over the world,” he said.

“Maybe that’s a big advantage for us – that we’ve managed to bring together all those cultures, habits, mentalities and different approaches to football into one unit.”

Pochettino, meanwhile, dismissed the Americans’ dismal recent record against European sides as a “coincidence” ahead of the last-32 clash.

The US have lost their past 10 straight games against teams from Europe, in a woeful winless run stretching back five years.

Pochettino – who played and coached in Spain, France and England for decades, before taking the US job in 2024 – denied that his team have any specific problem with European styles of play.

“I don’t believe that. Maybe it’s pure coincidence,” the 54-year-old told a press conference in San Francisco. “Tomorrow we have a good opportunity to fight against the history, not only against Bosnia-Herzegovina, if not against the past five years.

“It’s good, another challenge. We have another challenge.”

The US’ last win against a side from Europe came in a 2021 friendly – ironically, against Bosnia.

Since a 0-0 draw at the last World Cup against England, the US have lost to the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Belgium and Portugal, and twice each to Germany and Turkey.

Many of those losses came against elite teams, as the US – who did not have to qualify as World Cup co-hosts – opted for a strategy of testing themselves in friendlies against the best nations.
REUTERS, AFP