World Cup participant captain turns to the homeland and points at PSV player: "I wasn’t brave enough to watch"

Bosnia and Herzegovina are gearing up with PSV player Esmir Bajraktarevic for the second appearance at the FIFA World Cup. On 31 March, the Bosnians managed to surprise friend and foe by settling matters with four-time Italy on penalties in the play-off final.

It was the honor of Bajraktarevic to keep his head cool and slot home the winning penalty. The winger indeed kept his head cool and managed to send his country to the World Cup in North America, where Bajraktarevic & co. will play in Group B against fellow hosts Canada, Switzerland and Qatar.

Captain Edin Dzeko, now forty years old and active with FC Schalke 04, has written a letter to the children from the Balkan country. Dzeko was also active at the World Cup in 2014 with Bosnia, where the group stage was the end point, partly due to an unjustly disallowed goal by the striker in the match against Nigeria.

In the letter that the captain writes to the Bosnian children, Dzeko, among other things, talks about his youth, which is mainly characterized by the war in the former Yugoslavia, and about the course of his football career. ''Dear children of Bosnia and Herzegovina, I have just one message: nothing is impossible. Noth-ing. We are fortunate to be Bosnians. I don’t say that only as a man who lived his dream, but also as a boy who survived the war. I don’t like to talk about the siege of Sarajevo, but it is important that you understand what it was like'', Dzeko writes in The Players' Tribute.

After that, FC Schalke 04’s striker goes into his experiences during the war in Yugoslavia, where Dzeko and his family were forced to stay indoors and, among other things, played board games. ''I was six when it started. I remember the first sirens, that my mother grabbed me and that we took cover behind the shoe cabinet. That was day one. It went on like that for four years. We didn’t fully understand it, but we were scared every day. When our house became too unsafe, we went to my grandparents’ apartment. That was, I think, forty square metres. We lived there with fifteen people. Everyone slept on the floor. Every now and then, when it seemed quiet, mom opened the front door and I played with the other children in the neighbourhood. I’ll never forget her look. That feeble smile because she loved seeing me play, but in her eyes there was also the worry that I might not come back'', the attacker continues.

Ultimately, Dzeko overcame the war along with his family, and the striker’s football dream began only quite late because of it. ''We survived it. I’m amazed at how strong we were; we were only small children. But the war was pointless. All those innocent people killed, and for what? For money, power, and ego. For nothing, so. I feel sick whenever I see war on the news these days. I never want to see it—nowhere. But adults never learn. It seemed so impossible that I didn’t even dream about it. The grass fields you see now had been burned down. I trained in a sports hall. After months, the ground was cleaned up; they began painting white lines on the fields of scorched earth. I trained and hoped that one day I would be the first at my local club Zeljeznicar. When I was nineteen, a coach took me to the Czech Republic. Suddenly I was in Teplice,'' the captain of Bosnia still remembers all too well.

Then the striker continues on to the rest of his career. ''They bought me for 25,000 euros. Two years later I went to VfL Wolfsburg. Then for 37 million to Manchester City, and to AS Roma. I grew up in war; now I live a fairy-tale life. Nothing is impossible. Not even with Bosnia to the World Cup. The first qualification in 2014 was the most beautiful day of our lives. It didn’t go our way at the World Cup, but now we’re back'', Dzeko said.

Finally, the captain looks back on the play-off final against Italy, in which PSV player Esmir Bajraktarevic is also mentioned. ''I was so scared of Gianluigi Donnarumma. That guy is so big. I didn’t need to take a penalty; I was injured. Luckily, our youngsters know how to do it. They don’t overthink, like we veterans. When Esmir Bajraktarevic took the decisive penalty, I didn’t dare to look. Sergej Barbarez, the coach, didn’t either. Then I heard the explosion of joy. Our little country is going to the World Cup again. And remember: you are Bosnians. The world lies at your feet. I love you. Edin'', the striker closes his letter.