{"id":29379,"date":"2026-04-27T17:35:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=29379"},"modified":"2026-04-27T17:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:35:26","slug":"countdown-to-2026-world-cup-bosnia-inspired-by-edin-dzeko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/countdown-to-2026-world-cup-bosnia-inspired-by-edin-dzeko\/","title":{"rendered":"Countdown to 2026 World Cup: Bosnia Inspired by Edin D\u017eeko"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (FN), <\/strong>Bosnia and Herzegovina will return to the World Cup stage in 2026, inspired by veteran striker Edin D\u017eeko, whose goals and leadership carried the team through a dramatic qualifying campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At 40 years old, D\u017eeko remains the national team\u2019s talisman. He scored six goals in qualifying, including a late equalizer against Wales in the playoff semifinal and a crucial assist in the final against Italy. Despite suffering a shoulder injury late in that match, he stayed on the field, symbolizing his determination as Bosnia clinched victory on penalties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The win secured Bosnia\u2019s second-ever World Cup appearance, their first since 2014. Celebrations erupted across Sarajevo and beyond, with D\u017eeko leading teammates in song while wearing World Cup logo shirts, his arm strapped from injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coach Sergej Barbarez praised D\u017eeko\u2019s influence, calling him \u201cthe heart of this team,\u201d while also highlighting the emergence of a new generation. Wisconsin-born Esmir Bajraktarevi\u0107, 20, and 18-year-old Kerim Alajbegovi\u0107 both scored in the decisive shootout against Italy, underscoring the blend of youth and experience driving Bosnia forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Analysts say Bosnia\u2019s qualification is a symbolic triumph for a nation that has endured decades of political and social challenges. With only 10 weeks until the tournament, attention now turns to D\u017eeko\u2019s recovery and how the squad will balance its veteran leader with rising stars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (FN), Bosnia and Herzegovina will return to the World Cup stage in 2026, inspired by veteran striker Edin D\u017eeko, whose goals and leadership carried the team through a dramatic qualifying campaign. At 40 years old, D\u017eeko remains the national team\u2019s talisman. He scored six goals in qualifying, including a late equalizer against Wales [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":29380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,2096,776,25,4,478,5,458,7],"tags":[13102,13098,13096,13097,13100,13101,13099],"class_list":["post-29379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-economics","category-educational","category-entertainment","category-featured","category-financial","category-international","category-legal","category-sports","tag-bosnia-football-history","tag-bosnia-vs-italy-playoff","tag-bosnia-world-cup-2026","tag-edin-dzeko-bosnia","tag-esmir-bajraktarevic","tag-kerim-alajbegovic","tag-sergej-barbarez-coach"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29381,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29379\/revisions\/29381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}