SARAJEVO, April 1 (Reuters) – Bosnians woke with heavy heads and light hearts on Wednesday, buoyed by their soccer team’s dramatic playoff shootout win over Italy that sent them to the World Cup finals for only the second time.
Celebrations went late into the night on Tuesday after teenager Esmir Bajraktarevic squeezed his penalty past Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to secure a shock victory over the four-times world champions and a place in this year’s global showpiece tournament in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Crowds rushed on to the streets in towns and cities across the Balkan country, lighting flares into the night sky. Long lines of cars, covered by flags, formed slow processions as their horns blared.
“We are overjoyed,” said Ida Pacarez-Kadric, a 38-year-old dentist in Sarajevo on Wednesday. “This does not happen so often, and in the sea of sad events and problems this country is facing this is a light which will bring us a lot of joy and energy.”
The win gave Bosnians respite after a difficult period of political division and unrest in a country still experiencing the drawn-out effects of ethnic conflict in the 1990s.
None of that was on show after the game as the country relished the prospect of only the team’s second World Cup appearance, 12 years after the first.
“I am from Bosnia, take me to America”, goes the song by the Bosnian rock band Dubioza Kolektiv, which has become an unofficial anthem of the qualifying campaign. Players were singing it when they interrupted the post-match press conference of their coach Sergej Barbarez, showering him with water and jumping on the table.
Bosnia are in World Cup Group B with Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.
“This is what we needed, they are the only ones that brought some happiness to this state – our boys, our future hope,” said Senad, 26, a salesman in a car dealership.
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic. editing by Ed Osmond)
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