Bosnia Divided in Brazil

First published on Sports Illustrated and Roads & Kingdoms

There is a natural desire, on the part of everyone from pundits to fans to football bureaucrats, to exult in the power of the World Cup to unify.

This is especially true in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is making its World Cup debut next month. Sports Illustrated's Jonathan Wilson noted that "tens of thousands of fans of all ethnicities took to the streets of Sarajevo to celebrate Bosnia's qualification for World Cup 2014. ... There, general delight suggested that something unexpected and beautiful had occurred, and it hinted at a possible future unity."

Inevitably, the focus of much of the attention will be on how this divided country's qualification for a World Cup has united the entire nation after nearly twenty years of post-civil war rehabilitation. "A few years ago you could not imagine Bosnians, Serbs and Croats supporting the team, but that could change now," Bosnia-Herzegovina coach Safet Sušić was recently quoted as saying in an article pointedly titled "Bosnia goes from the battlefield to the World Cup."

But on the ground in Bosnia-Herzogovina, it looks for all the world like Sušić is wrong.

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