Bosnia and Herzegovina national team coach Sergej Barbarez said after the last preparatory match before the World Cup that the match was of great importance in the process of preparing the team and adapting to the conditions that await the “Dragons” on the biggest football stage, NFSBiH pointed out.

“The match showed a lot. We played against an opponent who wants to play, who opens the game and is not based on long shots. We had certain problems with long balls, but we know the reason – we stand high and when you have players who know how to punish it, it is normal for such situations to happen,” said Barbarez. “We have to think about who we are, what we are and how we got here. Nothing was given to us, but we achieved everything with effort and will.”

He particularly emphasized the importance of playing the match in this term so that the national team could better adapt to the conditions that await them at the tournament.

“It was important to play this match in this early period, to see how difficult it is. That’s why we came earlier to get used to it. It will be easier in Toronto. We’ll see how much time we need to recover, but some of the players I replaced were a little “angry” because they wanted to play more, which is certainly a good sign in terms of physical preparation.”

Barbarez also referred to the decision for the national team to spend the preparatory period in St. Louis.

“We knew where we were coming and we chose St. Louis because of our community here. We’ve had good communication with the fans for the past two years and I’m proud that we had the opportunity to play in front of these people.”