BiH Friendlies | 27 MAR 2021: Selección de fútbol de Costa Rica (Zenica)

Wish we played a third friendly this break since most countries are, but it is what it is. This is the last NT break before the Nations League starts so that's it for now. We'll have the Turkey and Spain games later this year though so there's still time to try new combinations out.

Dumic is 26 and started just 6 games since December for a midtable team while spending the rest of the time on the bench. He looked pretty slow in that Belgium game last year too, I don't think he's a solution either.

 

Lineup is out. 5 changes from Austria.

 

I hope Demirovic can get some game time.

 

Demirovic has been struggling in Ligue 2 to score goals. :/

 

Meh. At least we didn't lose and we got to rest most of the starters ahead of the N. Ireland game. This draw makes it 7 successive games without defeat for us, tying our 2nd best ever run with Susic during June - November 2011 and putting us two games away from our longest undefeated run, also under Susic, from August 2012 - August 2013.

The difference between the 1st and 2nd half was like night and day. I hope our fans appreciate Dzeko and Pjanic more after seeing how our performance fell apart after they came off. We looked like Faroe Islands in the 2nd half. Bajic, Milosevic, and Kodro were terrible, they shouldn't be in this NT with showings like that. Hajrovic, Djuric, and Prevljak will hopefully be in for them sooner rather than later.

Prcic was ok, Cimirot was average, and Krunic had a decent game. Not a bad game from the midfield backups but I'd like to see Gojak and Loncar tried out too after the U21s campaign is over. Nastic was pretty good and aggressive, better than Civic, but Kolasinac is definitely still the man at LB. Vranjes was poor, I actually prefer Sunjic to him there as he's been better for us lately. Todorovic had an off day, but unanimously he's our best RB option and should continue there.

Moving on to Monday now.

 

Any streams?

 

ESPN3 on watchespn should have it free state side.

Irfan Hadzic from the Turkish second league handed the start. I’m done. Also it’s like watching little kids chase a ball out there in the rain.

 

I would give an update on the game but I think shit sums it up very nicely. I’d be pissed if I was someone who doesn’t get a chance to play while playing for a top 8 league team when the coach trots out Bosnian league players and a guy from the second Turkish division.

 

Its good to give opportunity to new players. This is the perfect time to do so. Friendly game and we are going to drop out of the A group in Nations league anyways. No loss here, its all about experience to see who we got to work with when Dzeko and Pjanic leave within a couple of years. Seems like we have never been the same without Rahimic.

 

We have players who deserve chances that don’t get to play because we use the same lineup every time. Hodzic and Prevljak don’t deserve to start the game on the bench in favor of Hadzic who will offer us nothing going forward. Deni Milosevic who never gets to play on the bench for BPL players. Kadusic not getting to play in his natural position so we can cap a player from the BPL. Doesn’t make any sense to me and screams ineptitude. Try out the players on our roster who don’t get to play, they’re just calling players up for no reason.

 

It's one thing to experiment; quite another to put out a losing, incoherent team sprinkled with interns who drag the entire side down.

Bajevic has a win rate of 0% from six games. To be honest, he should resign now. This is simply obscene.

 

The lunacy of the situation is that in his first match, Bajevic got an excellent 1-1 draw away to one of the world's best sides, Italy. He then proceeds to rip up everything – the formation, the personnel, the basic plan – from that game in subsequent matches. It's beyond rational analysis.

 

Katastrofa, no direction, no plan, pointless call-ups, just pathetic

 

Well now we at least know who probably shouldn't feature in the starting 11 or be anywhere near the roster in the future. Bajevic with his 0% win rate has so far had the worst start as a national team since Sliskovic when he took over in March of 2002. Think about that for a second, that really tells us all we need to know.

 

The only positive that I can think of from last night is that BiH did not get overrun in the centre of the park, and enjoyed 59% possession. That is probably solely down to Loncar, who was bright and positive. At least Bajevic learnt that deploying three defensive midfielders is akin to suicide.

 

In particular, the macabre fascination with the BiH PL has to end. Fielding Tatar, Rahmanovic and Corluka was akin to going out there with nine players. There are solid reasons why none of these guys made the grade even in neighbouring leagues.

In the future, Bosnian Premier League players should only be considered if:

1. They are either under 25 or have returned to BiH from a much more competitive league (for reasons of injury/rehab/career kick-start); and

2. They are obviously exceptional talents.

Tatar, Rahmanovic and Corluka pass neither of these criteria. Ziljkic does, however.

 

I don't really see the fascination for the BIH PL as something major, if you look at the squad over the past few years there were rarely more 2-3 BIH PL players featured in the roster and out of those 2-3 usually one of them was the third goalkeeper.

 

True, but these slots should have gone to players who have already graduated from the Bosnian system and ply their trade in leagues such as Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, etc.

There appears to be no regional focus at all when it comes to the talent pipeline: it's either Bosnia, Turkey or Western Europe.

 

Hold onto your hats, guys: apparently, Demirovic has returned to his club because he isn't eligible to play against Holland or Italy, owing to suspension. Because he didn't feature for a single minute against Iran, this means that Bajevic literally called him up for nothing.

So @NFSBiH called up Demirovic for nothing? This is beyond embarrassing.https://t.co/BYJELeZ8ls

— BiHFootball (@BiHFootball) November 13, 2020

 

No one knows what they’re doing. Because we lost to Iran we are now further in jeopardy of losing out on pot 3 for World Cup qualifying. I don’t expect to make it but someone should’ve said, maybe we shouldn’t start half a line ups worth of players who don’t deserve callups because it’ll jeopardize our chances. If you wanted to do that play Gibraltar or something. Embarrassing. Menalo plays in Europe but not good enough, Sušić team of the round in Europa League but can’t earn a call up over Ćorluka. Those are the players you give a chance to against Iran. Not someone who plays in the Turkish second league and Sarajevo players.

 

I knew about this and mentioned it in the forum. These people are amateurs

 

About the Demirovic situation, as we say: Da nije zalosno (jadno), bilo bi smijesno...

Zvornik, what does losing to Iran have to do with World Cup qualifying pots?

 

Well who do we have playing in Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic etc. worthy of a call-up right now?

There should be a set of rules, such as not calling up players in the national team that are say over 25 years old yet are still playing in the BIHPL. I don't care if someone scores 40 goals in a single season in the BIHPL, that doesn't mean much when it comes to international football. Can anyone recall a single time where we won a crucial game or got a crucial point because of a direct contribution from a BIHPL player? Because I can't.