Qualifiers begin: Dragons face Romanians tonight

(Patria) - The Bosnia and Herzegovina senior national football team begins its World Cup qualifying campaign tonight. The "Dragons" will play against Romania in Bucharest tonight.

The good thing is that coach Sergej Barbarez has no player availability issues.

"The preparations have gone well so far, everyone is healthy and willing. We can't wait for it to start. I certainly expect a very intense match and an opponent with huge confidence. I'm looking forward to such a match, in front of a full stadium, in front of full stands.

I've always liked playing away games, and I'll try to pass that on to the players. Romania is certainly a very interesting and intriguing national team, which I have immense respect for. They showed their quality at the European Championship, I have that in mind. They have good players, but we've come to compete," said Sergej Barbarez in the pre-match press conference.

"Regarding these new qualifiers, the first match is certainly the most important in a way, and we are certainly playing against a national team that participated in the last European Championship and is growing year by year. They have a very experienced coach who, even at 80 years old, I think has the will and desire to help this national team, but we also haven't come just to play around, but to try to achieve a good result. I think the foundation for that was laid in the last Nations League, regardless of the fact that the results weren't the best. This is a new process, with a new coaching staff, many new players, many young and good players who are certainly the future of this national team. I hope we will show that tomorrow, even though we are playing against a competitor for one of the top two spots. It won't be easy, but we are here to compete and achieve a positive result," added Džeko.

The main referee of the match is Danny Makkelie from the Netherlands. In 2020, he refereed the Europa League final between Sevilla and Inter, and among other matches, he also refereed the semi-final of the 2021 European Championship between England and Denmark. He also officiated at the FIFA World Cup, as well as the World Cup in Qatar. The "Dragons" do not remember him fondly, as in 2019 he refereed the match between BiH and Greece (2:2), when he sent off Miralem Pjanić, reports sportske.ba.