Sarajevo set for a new siege

[Ivo Skoric]

Tommorow Serbia and Bosnia clash again. This time one the soccer 
field in Sarajevo's Kosevo stadium. You can watch the game tuning to 
Pink Plus at 2 pm (for more info: http://www.batv.tv). Also, Croatia 
and Bulgaria play tommorrow (it can be watched on pay-per-view). Both 
games are qualifiers for European championship.

The Guardian (London) October 7, 2004

Sarajevo set for a new siege

Ian Traynor in Zagreb

Kosevo Stadium in Sarajevo, where Bosnia-Herzegovina will take on
Serbia-Montenegro this Saturday, is an accursed place. So, at least,
says Bosnia's national coach Blaz Sliskovic.

A decade ago the stadium - the centrepiece of the 1984 Winter 
Olympics - was shelled and mortared mercilessly by the Serbian forces 
that kept the city under siege for more than three years. A field 
next to it was turned into a makeshift war cemetery.

Saturday's Group Seven qualifying match there between Bosnia and
Serbia is the first time the teams have met competitively since
Yugoslavia disintegrated bloodily and spawned the two states.

Tensions are running high ahead of the fixture, important to both
teams' hopes of making it to Germany. Fears are rife that the legacy
of the war could result in off-field violence, a not uncommon
phenomenon in Balkan football.

"I understand the Bosnians are very emotional about this match. I
don't want to add to the tension but I think we should go there with 
a cool head," the Serbian manager Ilija Petkovic said.

The Sarajevo authorities are leaving as little as possible to chance
ahead of Saturday's qualifier. A web of netting 900 by 300 metres has
been draped inside Kosevo stadium this week to separate the rival
fans. City centre bars and cafes are being closed down early on
Saturday and entire streets blocked off. In addition to the heavy
police presence, 500 private security guards have been contracted.

The Serbs did go to Sarajevo a couple of years ago and beat the
Bosnians 2-0 in a friendly to celebrate good relations between the 
two FAs. More than 25 people were injured in violent clashes during 
the game - another reason for Sliskovic to be wary of Kosevo.

The Bosnians prefer to host their home games in Zenica in central
Bosnia at the Bilino Polje stadium which accommodates a raucous 
14,000 fans against Kosevo's roomier but more sedate 40,000. But at 
their creditable 1-1 draw against Spain in Zenica last month, Spain's 
Juan Valeron was hurt by a billiard ball hurled from the terraces,
triggering a Fifa fine for the Bosnian FA and a two-match ban on 
using the stadium. So Kosevo it is on Saturday night.

"We will not take any chances," said the general secretary of the
Bosnia FA Munib Usanovic yesterday. Every ticket sold for the match 
is being accompanied by a flyer appealing for good behaviour and
stringent controls are being laid on what can be worn or carried in 
to the  stadium.

"All fans entering the stadium will have to go through three police
checks," said Hilmo Selimovic, the Sarajevo police chief. "All
nationalists flags, caps, and T-shirts portraying faces of people who
have nothing to do with football will be confiscated."

Translated, that means no politics and no posters or T-shirts 
celebrating Radovan Karadzic or Ratko Mladic, the two Bosnian Serb
wartime leaders wanted for war crimes whom Serbian fans use to taunt
their Bosnian opponents.

The irony is that no fans will be travelling from Serbia-Montenegro
itself. The "away" sup port will come from a large influx of fans 
from the  Serb half of divided Bosnia rooting for the country they 
would rather join, indicating how riven Bosnia remains nine years 
into the peace. It was not until the 2002-03 season that teams from 
the Bosnian Serb "republic" finally joined a unified national league 
under pressure from Uefa.

While the Serbs are seen as the stronger side, the Bosnians are
unbeaten in their last five games including a 1-1 draw with France in
a friendly. In the absence of Chelsea's injured Mateja Kezman, the
Serbs will be looking to their former Aston Villa striker Savo
Milosevic for goals.

The Bosnians can count on Hasan Salihmidzic of Bayern Munich as their
playmaker, and for the first time the Brazilian-born left-side
midfielder Ricardo Baiano has been called up.

The home team also includes a Bosnian Serb, Branimir Bajic, who plays
in Belgrade for Partizan. He has been keen to dismiss talk of divided
loyalties.

"I can't change my skin," he told Bosnian reporters this week. "But
our ambitions are well-known - to get to the World Cup. We can only 
do that by winning, so I'm hoping we triumph over Serbia-Montenegro 
at Kosevo."

In the run-up to the match, the Bosnian squad has repaired all this
week to the country's holiest shrine, the Roman Catholic place of
pilgrimage at Medjugorje in the hills of Herzegovina. Faced with the
curse of Kosevo, they seem to be looking for all the help they can
get.

[PHOTO]: A Bosnian man stands in the cemetery overlooking the Kosevo
stadium in Sarajevo where Bosnia will host Serbia in a World Cup
qualifier on Saturday (Reuters)

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Ivo Skoric
19 Baxter Street
Rutland VT 05701
802.775.7257
ivo at balkansnet.org
balkansnet.org