Bosnian journalists believe that their team played a good match against Ukraine and deserved to reach the play-off final. The main message is that Bosnia and Herzegovina played well for 85 minutes, while Ukraine played well for only three minutes, but this was enough to win, which is especially disappointing because many people had already believed that Savo Milosevic's team would be able to beat the Ukrainians. After the match, some fans were so upset that they decided to take it out on their neighbours in the stands by starting fights in the stadium.
Sport.ba
"The Dragons were left out of the European Championships," the Sport.ba journalist believes that the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team played a good match and deserved to play Iceland in the play-off final.
"Bosnia and Herzegovina's players lost to Ukraine in the semi-finals of the European Championship play-offs with a score of 1-2. For coach Savo Milosevic, it was a good game, except for the last five minutes of regular time. "From the very beginning, the Dragons showed themselves well: they outplayed the Ukrainians in attack and created chances, while in defence they stood up well and prevented attacks by the 24th-ranked team in the world, according to the FIFA rankings. They had to wait until the 38th minute for their first serious chance, but Edin Dzeko and Sead Kolasinac failed to act in concert, so the opportunity was lost.
The Bosnians played well in the second half. That's why they quite rightly opened the scoring: in the 57th minute, Bylinoe Pole "exploded". Amar Dedić shot the ball in front of the Ukrainian goal, and Mykolenko deflected it into his own net.
It seemed that Bosnia was in control of the game until Dedic and Ahmedhodzic left the game due to injuries. And then there were three shocking minutes. First, Yaremchuk, who came on as a substitute, made it 1-1 in the 85th minute, and three minutes later he assisted Dovbyk to make it 1-2. Although the teams played eight minutes of added time, our national team failed to return to the game. Thus, another chance to go to the European Championship was lost.
Now our team will play a friendly against Israel on Tuesday, 26 March. Ukraine will play against Iceland, which was better than Israel tonight (4-1), for the right to reach the final tournament at the Euros in Germany."
AVAZ
"A shocking turnaround" - AVAZ journalist could not understand what happened at the end of the match with Ukraine and why Bosnia and Herzegovina lost a victory that was so close.
"For most of the match, Bosnia and Herzegovina played well. It seemed that the victory and reaching the final match was very close. Perhaps this played a cruel joke on the players, who believed in success too soon. Three shocking minutes ruined everything that had happened on the pitch for the previous 85 minutes. First, Yaremchuk and then Dovbyk scored a goal each, which quickly changed the situation on the pitch. As soon as the Ukrainians scored the second goal, Bosnia seemed to lose faith in their abilities. After that, the visitors were closer to scoring the third goal than Bosnia was to equalising.
After the match, some fans could not accept the defeat, which led to fights between Bosnians in the stands. Several people were injured and taken to hospital. Fortunately, the police intervened quickly. This situation only emphasises how intense the match was and how disappointing it was to lose after conceding two goals in the last few minutes."
Vijesti
"Ukraine made Zenica cry" - a journalist from the Vijesti website emphasises how disappointing it was to lose in the last minutes and how devastated the fans in the stands were, not believing that their team had gone from being "almost a finalist" to a loser in three minutes, who was once again forced to say goodbye to the hope of playing at the Euros.
"At Bylino Pole, everything was under the sign of the Dragons - a good game for 85 minutes, more opportunities to score, support from the fans, good coaching decisions... But it is Ukraine that is the finalist for the Euro 2024 qualifiers in Germany. Serhii Rebrov's team celebrated a 2-1 victory in Zenica.
The Yellow and Blues' longer bench helped the visitors win, as Bosnia and Herzegovina's game fell apart due to forced substitutions in the 82nd minute. By all accounts, Real Madrid's great goalkeeper Andriy Lunin played an important role in the Ukrainian victory, saving a shot from Ermedin Demirovic and helping his team. After that, there was only one team on the field - Ukraine.
Bosnia and Herzegovina took the lead thanks to Matvienko's 57th-minute penalty kick, and Valencia striker Roman Yaremchuk equalised in the 85th minute after only four minutes on the pitch. "Girona striker Artem Dovbyk signs death warrant Artem Dovbyk, who scored with his head after Yaremchuk's brilliant shot in the 88th minute.
"The Dragons have experienced the delights of the World Cup, played well in Brazil and even lost to Argentina at the Maracana 1-2, but they will still have to wait for their first participation in the European Championship. Ukraine will play in the final for one of the last three places against Iceland, which won 4-1 in Israel."
Anton Prokopov
