Bosnia analysis: Kerim Alajbegovic shines on World Cup debut to boost knockout hopes | OneFootball

Ollie Whitmore, Chief football news reporter

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Kerim Alajbegovic enjoyed a dream debut almost a year ago, scoring and assisting once against San Marino in one of Bosnia’s two World Cup qualifiers last September.

Not even a legal adult at that time, he proved a crucial part of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s frantic 3-1 win over Qatar nine months on from his first international game to boost their hopes of a first ever appearance in the knockout stages of the World Cup.

Alajbegovic announced himself to the world with a stunning strike to put Bosnia ahead, before Edin Dzeko’s cross – on his 150th international cap – was diverted over the line by defender Sultan Al-Brake in the space of five brutal first-half minutes.

Ermin Mahmic quashed any hope Qatar had of reaching the knockouts, despite the best efforts of their main man Akram Afif, as the 2022 World Cup hosts bowed out with a first point at the tournament to their name from the opening match against Switzerland.

While they might not have been football’s most formidable opponents, the Red Bull Salzberg winger showed no mercy with his pace and an emphatic finish into the roof of the net on a tricky run into the penalty area aged just 17.

The 18-year-old began his youth career with FC Koln in 2013, spending eight years at their academy before moving to Bayer Leverkusen in 2021 and then RB Salzberg four years later and breaking into the first-team set up at the Austrian club.

Alajbegovic scored nine goals and assisted three times in the Austrian Bundesliga this season. Much like the very first time he put on a Bosnia shirt, Alakbegovic took to his debut at the World Cup like a duck to water.

He danced past several players with the kind of dribbling you’d expect to see from an international maybe 10 years his senior, and just as some inside the stadium thought he had gone too far wide of goal the sensation had other ideas.

And what a goal it was to get Bosnia up and running, a rasping drive that Mahmud Abunada, nor many goalkeepers in the world, stood no chance of turning around the post.

Bosnia head coach Sergej Barbarez withdrew the teenager in the 82nd minute, a sign that he is set for more than the 16-minute cameo he was given in his side’s opening game against Canada.

With the confidence and precision with which he performed under the pressure of his first full start at the World Cup finals how can you blame him?

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