Bosnia-Herzegovina embraces underdog role in World Cup opener against Canada

TORONTO (AP) — Bosnia-Herzegovina made it to the World Cup on the last day of European qualifying. Now it’s facing one of the three co-hosts, Canada, in its opener.

Doesn’t bother the Balkan side at all.

“Even if we are underrated or underdogs, we did something that everyone knows who we are,” forward Ermedin Demirovic said before practice Thursday. 

“It’s not a problem to be the underdog, to be honest,”

Bosnia kicks off its second World Cup appearance Friday against Canada, a team that sits more than 30 places above it in the FIFA rankings.

Bosnia is 64th, the lowest-ranked team in Group B behind Switzerland (19), Canada (30) and Qatar (56).

“We are a small country, this is our second ever World Cup and for sure we are sort of an underdog in many of the matches ahead,” coach Sergej Barbarez said. 

“But if you look at the previous 20 or so games there were only two teams that were ranked lower than us, and if you know our results, I think that you have to just admire what we’ve managed to achieve.”

The Bosnians qualified for the World Cup via the European playoffs, defeating Wales in the semifinals and upsetting Italy in the finals. 

They advanced on penalties each time.

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