Bosnia captain Dzeko will relish the responsibility at the World Cup

Edin Dzeko is approaching the next World Cup with emotion and pride: the captain of Bosnia-Herzegovina will lead his team to the competition, an edition which seems set to be his last in the selection.

Dzeko remains his country's best director with 73 goals in 148 caps in all competitions. He participated in three matches during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where he scored against Iran. At 40, he was Bosnia's top scorer during qualifying for the tournament, with six goals in nine matches, and arrives at the international event with a lot of confidence.

At club level, the striker relaunched his career in January by joining Schalke: he participated in the club's rise to the Bundesliga, scoring six goals in ten matches in the German second division. He is the third oldest outfield player at this year's World Cup, with only Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) and Luka Modric (Croatia) older than the Bosnian captain.

“I didn’t think I would play at 40,” admits Dzeko. “If you had asked me ten years ago, I would have said 'no.' But I listen to my body and I do a lot of work before and after training to help it, because I'm not young anymore and I have to take care of my legs, my body. I still feel good, and I still think I can help the team when I play, as I have done over the last four months at Schalke and with the selection. I'm the oldest, obviously. We always have a great responsibility. I am happy to be the captain of this great generation. It will change their lives, maybe they don't know it yet, but it will. »

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The Zmajevi, arrived in Toronto, completed their first training and began the final phase of preparation for their opening match against the co-host country, Canada. The next training session is scheduled for tomorrow at 5:45 p.m. local time.

Bosnia qualified via the UEFA play-offs, eliminating Wales and then Italy on penalties. Across all of the qualifications, the selection was beaten only once in its ten matches (1-2 home defeat against Austria) and found the net in each of its ten matches. After Canada, Bosnia will meet Switzerland and Qatar in the group stage.

Dzeko says he has found a second youth since his transfer to Schalke in January. In the first part of the season with Fiorentina, he scored only two goals in 18 appearances in all competitions (including eight starts). Changing clubs and working under compatriot Miron Mušič allowed him to get back to his best, something he says factored into his call for the World Cup: “It was about playing more, which is what I needed. I couldn't have made a better choice. Everything that happened was even better than expected. »

Only Sead Kolasinac, among those called up, shares with Dzeko the experience of the last World Cup in Bosnia twelve years earlier. Players like Tarik Muharemovic, Kerim Alajbegovic and Esmir Bajraktarevic represent the future of the country, but Dzeko believes he can still keep up with the younger players.

“Sometimes there is an end for all of us,” he concedes of his international career. “Maybe mine’s coming.” But it's not yet time. »