From euphoria to reality: Bosnia face questions before World Cup bow

[Jonathan Wilson]

This summers hipster team has a number of selection doubts despite Saturdays 2-1 victory over Ivory CoastSaturdays friendly against Ivory Coast brought a 2-1 win for Bosnia-Herzegovina, two more goals for Edin Dzeko, a glimpse of how they could play without two strikers and perhaps a resolution to the ongoing question at the back of midfield, but the overwhelming conclusion from St Louis was that Ivory Coast are a shambles and need a major improvement over the next 10 days if they are not to go out of the World Cup in the group stage for the third tournament in a row.
This was not, it should be said, anything like a first-choice Ivorian side, with the coach Sabri Lamouchi leaving out Yaya Touré, Gervinho and Didier Drogba and giving a number of fringe players the opportunity to force their way into the side, but the lack of cohesion was still remarkable. Again and again passes were misplaced, again and again space opened up in front of the two centre-backs, and again and again players were left staring at each other as attacks broke down and possession was gifted to Bosnia. Perhaps the artificial surface at the Edward Jones Dome explained some of the tentativeness on the ball, but for the basic positional indiscipline there was no excuse.
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