Italy's hell in Bosnia: freezing weather, heated stadium, spy spotted | OneFootball

After defeating Northern Ireland in Bergamo, Italy will seek one of the last tickets to the 2026 North American World Cup against Bosnia and Herzegovina, who will be at home and are preparing a real hell to put the visiting delegation under pressure.

The Balkan side, who beat Wales on penalties in the first round of the European Playoffs and are captained by Edin Dzeko, kept their home base in Zenica, a city located 70 kilometers north of Sarajevo with fewer than 130,000 inhabitants. There stands the Bilino Polje stadium, which holds 15,600 people and where Bosnia remained unbeaten between 1995 and 2006.

Miralem Pjanic, former Juventus and Barcelona star, warned the Azzurra: “It will not be pleasant for them to be there, believe me. For ninety minutes, or perhaps more, it will not simply be a football match: it will be a sporting battle.” He then played down the impact of a UEFA sanction that will reduce capacity to 11,000 home fans and 800 away supporters: “I assure you that when you are there, it feels like there are 30,000.”

Bosnian journalist Endin Causevic told Marca: “Many fans will come to Zenica even if they do not have a ticket… hoping to buy one somewhere. The streets will be packed because this kind of euphoria and atmosphere has not been seen for years.” The newspaper Oslobodjenje ran the headline: “Zenica. Tuesday. 20:45. Italy comes as a formality. Bosnia comes for something else. We fear only God.”

After the win against Northern Ireland, defender Federico Di Marco and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario were waiting to learn who their next rival would be and celebrated when the Bosnians beat the Welsh. “It was just a simple instinctive gesture,” explained the Inter Milan player.

Despite the celebration, a man dressed in a military parka, with an Italy patch standing out on it, attended the training session open to the press, but did not leave when the journalists did, hid, and recorded the practice on his phone. When he was spotted, he was expelled from the premises.

Meanwhile, the squad led by Gennaro Gattuso had to delay its schedule by one day due to the snow, rain, and cold battering Bosnia. As a result, they will arrive at the stadium with no time for anything more than a brief inspection of the pitch.

Even so, the four-time world champions, who missed the tournaments in Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, have a very positive record against the Dragons: four wins, one draw, and one loss in six meetings. The winning team will go into Group B, along with Canada, Qatar, and Switzerland.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.