Bosnia and Herzegovina Remains a Very Bitter Place for the Italian National Team

Bosnia defeats Italy in the first match of the late-summer qualifying window for the 2027 World Cup, which will be held in Qatar. In the country that Italian sports fans remember well for the penalty-shot loss last March that cost them a spot in the soccer World Cup, the Azzurri suffer another defeat: in basketball, the World Cup is still within reach, but the margin for error has become much narrower.

Luca Banchi’s team was forced to play catch-up for the entire game. In the closing minutes, Melli’s three-pointer to take a one-point lead seemed poised to secure the victory, but Bosnia responded immediately and didn’t give up any more ground. The difference-makers were above all Nurkic (25 points, 14 rebounds) and Kamenjas (13 points, 8 rebounds), who were physically dominant and always there in the clutch. For the Azzurri, the 14 points from Fontecchio and Mannion were not enough (the new point guard for Roma SPQR also had 6 assists).

Italy, incidentally, failed to capitalize on Bosnia’s enormous struggles from three-point range: 4-for-28—a statistic that could have carried much more weight in such a back-and-forth contest. The Azzurri now stand at 5 wins and 2 losses in the group stage (results from the first round also count), while Bosnia moves to 3–4 and re-enters the race.

The next game is scheduled for Monday, August 31, at home: the opponent for the second day of the decisive phase will be Serbia, which on Friday evening routed Iceland with a decisive 102–73 victory, led by 23 points from Tanaskovic, 21 from Jovic, 17 from Guduric, and 10 each from Dangubic and Milutinov, with Nikola Jokic recording 6 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists.