Slavs force Bosnia into submission

Slavs force Bosnia into submission
Aminul Islam

Kolkata, January 25 : Yugoslavia created soccer history at Yuba Bharti Krirangan on Thursday afternoon. Maintaining the over-all domination, Yugoslavia recorded a convincing 2-0 win over their Balkan rivals, Bosnia, to win the Sahara Millennium Cup. Duljaj Igor put the winners ahead with a sixth-minute goal while striker Bogdanovic Igor rounded off the tally with another goal, just a minute before the interval.

“We have created history as we have beaten Bosnia for the first time,” was how an elated Yugoslavian coach Ilija Petkovic reacted after the match. “The triumph also showed that we were the more experienced side in the final.”

The title showdown between the arch-rivals had the makings of an intense battle, but in the end it transpired to a one-sided affair with the winners calling the shot against the Bosnians. In their second meeting in the tournament, the first one was a 1-1 draw in a league tieat Kochi, Yugoslavia liftedtheir game up, while the Bosnians flattered to deceive.

“We are disappointed. We didn’t play well today,” said Bosnian coach Husnija Arapovic. But he attributed his team’s defeat to an out-of-sort mid-field. “The failure in the mid-field made all the difference.”

On the otherhand, Yugoslavia pulled the strings in the middle to dictate terms in the entire match. Although the match never rose to any dizzy heights, Yugoslavs had a clear edge and shot into the lead with a sixth-minute strike.

Igor, who scored the match-winner against Japan, once again was in the thick of action as he drove the ball home with a clinical finish beating rival goalie Adnan Guso hands down. Capitalising on a faulty clearance by Bosnian defence, hard-working Trobok Goran, who was the livewire in the attack, played it square to Ivic Vladimir on the left. Vladimir dashed down the middle and cut in through three defenders to release it beautifully to left-back Igor. Surprisingly, after that goal, the winners surprisingly retreated into their shell. With the attack somewhat lacking the flair and firepower the first session was reduced to a monotonous affair.

Yugoslavia, ‘Europe’s Brazil’, however spurned at least three gilt-edged opportunities, which could have put some more pressure on their Balkan rivals.Soon after the second goal, Bogdanovic shot wide from a hand-shaking distance while in the 12th minute he failed to connect a measured centre on the right. The second goal, which came a minute before the interval, once again exposed Bosnia’s porous defence which was big let them for them. Jeremic Dragoliub intercepted a pass on the left channel to relay it to Bogdanovic.

With a sudden burst of speed Bogdanovic hoodwinked his marker Zehrudin Kavazovic to unleash a 15-yard shot which crashed into the net.

The winners became richer by $1,50,000 while Bosnia carried home the purse of $1,00,000.