There is something beautifully brutal about a World Cup opener on home soil. The weight of a nation, the roar of a partisan crowd, the expectation tha...
There is something beautifully brutal about a World Cup opener on home soil. The weight of a nation, the roar of a partisan crowd, the expectation that the script will follow the home side. And then Jovo Lukic arrived to tear it all up.GoalZaza was in the stands at the Toronto Stadium, and the silence that descended after the 38th minute was as loud as the noise that preceded it. It was a set piece, route one, the kind of goal that makes purists wince and pragmatists nod with grim satisfaction. A looping cross from the right, a perfectly timed run, and the Bosnian centre half rose like a salmon to power a header past the Canadian goalkeeper. Clinical. Brutal. Devastating.For Canada, the co. hosts, it was a tactical nightmare. They had started brightly, playing with the vim and vigour you would expect from a side buoyed by a home crowd. But Bosnia, as they so often do, showed their tactical flexibility. They dropped into a compact low block, absorbed pressure, and then struck on the transition. It is the oldest trick in the book, and Canada walked right into it. They had bottled it in the key moment, failing to track Lukic's run. Squeaky bum time for the Canadian defence every time a Bosnian set piece floated into the box.The question now is simple. Can Canada recover their composure The tournament is far from over for them, but the group stage is a unforgiving mistress. Bosnia, meanwhile, have done exactly what they needed to do: make a statement. They have parked the bus when required and shown they can be a menace from the mixer. For a team that arrived as outsiders, they are now very much in control of their own destiny. Football, eh Never write the script.
