The coach downplays Bosnia: "Slow and compassionate"

Roberto Cevoli, the coach of the San Marino national team, with the ‘Titans’ faced Bosnia in Zenica. “We challenged them in June and managed to put them in trouble,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport. “With 25 minutes to go the score was still 0-0, then Dzeko came in and scored the decisive goal. But in the last minute we started again on the counterattack and came close to equalizing. The crowd cheered because of a mistake we made, a sign that they were afraid. At home, against San Marino, they thought they would win easily, but instead they took a risk.”

“Bosnia is a slow, compassed team that plays at a low pace. In Zenica I tried to bring the game to intensity, with a high pressing. You feel the warmth of the crowd already from the locker room, which is also difficult to reach. They gave us a big room on the second floor of the stadium. To get there, you had to walk down two flights of very steep stairs,” added the former Reggina, Reggiana and Torino defender, among others.

That June match, which ended 1-0 for Bosnia thanks to Edin Dzeko’s goal at 66′, remains one of the most significant pages of San Marino’s recent run in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. It was precisely Bosnia, after finishing second in Qualifying Group H, that then earned access to the final playoff by beating Wales on penalties. Once again Dzeko was decisive, who in the 86th minute, with a header on the development of a corner, had signed the 1-1 draw that then took the challenge first to extra time and then to the lottery from the eleven meters.

Tuesday, March 31, at the ‘Bilino Polje’ stadium in Zenica – the same facility described by Cevoli with its uncomfortable locker rooms and the stifling heat of the crowd – Bosnia faces Gennaro Gattuso’s Italy in the playoff final for a place at the 2026 World Cup. The Azzurri, who have been missing from the rainbow review for two consecutive editions, went into the fixture aware of the weight of the stakes. “We are Italy and we have an obligation to go to the World Cup,” Inter left back Federico Dimarco, who shared years with Dzeko in the Nerazzurri, had said on the eve of the match.

Since taking office in December 2023, the Romagna coach has imprinted the San Marino national team with a recognizable tactical identity, based on intensity and pressing, capable of putting far better-ranked teams in trouble.