From war to World Cup for Edin Dzeko

Edin Dzeko / Ulicar Streets - Flickr

Edin Dzeko now hears the roar at the end of soccer games. From a league victory with his club Manchester City, to entering the World Cup with his country Bosnia, the Bosnian diamond often sees himself as the center of celebration. About 20 years ago, these roars were that of a bloody war which surrounded his everyday life.

Dzeko was younger than 10 years old when war broke out in Bosnia. Living in the capital while it was under siege didn’t help. War dominated everyday life for the people in Sarajevo. Anyone could die at any given moment.

"The conflict started in my country just as I was born and my early life was nothing but fighting, war and bullets in the walls of the buildings," Dzeko was quoted as saying in a December 2011 thenational.ae article.

Every now and then, the war calmed and he went out to play soccer. In one instance, his mother Belma called him home right before a bomb landed where he played soccer moments before.

“My gut feeling saved my son’s life,” she was quoted as saying in a 2011 DailyMail.co.uk article.

Fast forward 20 years and Dzeko is part of the Bosnian national team headed to the World Cup. He helped secure his country’s first major tournament entrance, scoring 10 goals in qualifications.

"I wish to send my regards to Brazil and say that we will show how mighty Bosnia is," he said in an October 2013 EspnFC.com article.

Every Dragon faced the war in their own way. Bosnian goalkeeper Asmir Begovic grew up in Canada after spending a few years in Germany away from the war. Like the rest of the team, Begovic is looking forward to playing in his nation’s first major tournament.

"It's what dreams are made of,” he said in a February 2014 newstalk.ie article.

On June 15, 2014, the Dragons will play their first World Cup game against Argentina. Win or lose, the match will be one to remember for athletes like Dzeko, who, only two decades ago, were uncertain if they’ll live to see the next day.

China's team disapoints fans again

The fans cheered their country on as the spirits in the air were high. The match between China and Iraq was highly energetic and the game was the decision maker. China was in second place and Iraq was in third, but if Iraq won this game it would catapult them into second place right behind the top team, Jordan. Only the top two teams were allowed to proceed, so in order to stay in second China had to win this game.

However, China’s fans were disappointed again when their team lost to Iraq at an Asia Qualifier. The fans were enlightened with hope after their team had beat Macau 9-1; however, when the end of the game neared, AFC Asian Cup MVP striker Younis Mahmoud scored a goal for Iraq making the final score 1-0 in favor of Iraq.

China’s hope for the World Cup however, also ended there since this had been a crucial game and the loss had put Iraq in front of China. With only the top two teams moving on, China's hopes to be in the World Cup were gone. Even the 4-0 win against Singapore after losing to Iraq made no difference.

Any dreams depend on Iraq losing their next two games against Jordan and Singapore; however, the chances of Iraq losing to Singapore are fairly small and not many fans are dwelling on it. With China beating Singapore 4-0 the challenge for Iraq to do the same is not great and only with a miracle will Iraq lose letting China go to the round robin.

Previous years were bad for China and not a single year have they played at the World Cup. Their closest reach was in 2004 when they were runner up. In 2002 they received bad press after they had reached the World Cup finals and failed to score a single goal.

This year China’s team had also hired head coach Jose Antonio Camacho in best effort to finally win the World Cup. Some fans are angered by the last minute coach change which might have decreased the chance of the team going to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Former coach Gao Hongbo had one of the highest winning percentage (65%) for a Chinese manager. The replacement of former coach Gao therefore brought much confusion to why he was replaced by current head coach Camacho.

Chinese Soccer Administrative Centre vice-president Yu Hongchen explained, "The qualifying stage of 2014 World Cup is just a temporary task for him. Even if the task is failed, Camacho will not lose the job. When we started to find a new coach for the national team, we mainly focus on European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. First of all, they have advanced football concepts, and secondly they have a productive youth training system, which we can learn from. We hope he can help us to find a suitable style."

India's World Cup cricket victory

Final Score: Sri Lanka 274-6; India 277-4

The 2011 World Cup Cricket favorite's, India, beat Sri Lanka in the finals to win the World Cup for the first time since 1983 in Mumbai, India. For Sri Lanka, this was the second World Cup in a row that they have lost after reaching the finals. The win over Sri Lanka gave Sachin Tendulkar, the world's leading batsmen, his first championship in six attempts. However, Tendulkar was 18 in 14 balls this match. India's captain ,Mahendra Singh Dhoni, had his best performance in this match with 91 runs off 79 balls and ended with the match with a 6 to take India past Sri Lanka's total. The result also made Mahela Jayawardene vice captain of the Sri Lankan team the first batsmen to score a century (one hundred runs) in a World Cup final on a losing team. Jayawardene was the only Sri Lankan batsman to pass 50 runs for his team. After facing this loss, Jayawardene and the Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara both resigned from their post. Sangakkara was the third-highest run producer in the 2011 World Cup, scoring 465 runs in 8 innings being pass only by Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan, with 500 runs, and India's Sachin Tendulkar, with 482. When asked about his resignation during an interview, Sangakkara said, “I will be 37 by the next World Cup and I cannot therefore be sure of my place in the team. It is better that Sri Lanka is led now by a player who will be at the peak of their career in that tournament.”