Bosnia and Italy in wild spy-gate row ahead of crucial World Cup play-off
A soldier has been accused of filming Bosnia and Herzegovina’s training ahead of their World Cup play-off against Italy this evening (31 March).
Four-time World Cup winners Italy and Bosnia will battle it out for a spot at this summer’s tournament when they face each other at Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica, with both nations coming through play-off semi-finals against Northern Ireland and Wales respectively last week.
Despite there being no historic rivalry between the two sides, allegations of spying have emerged ahead of the clash, with reports from Sportssport.BA suggesting that a soldier filmed Bosnia’s training while players were being advised on tactics by the coaching staff.
It is also claimed that the EUFOR soldier is Italian, raising further questions about why he was filming the session.
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The Bosnia and Herzegovina FA has since lodged a complaint after it emerged that the soldier filmed for around 15 minutes before security officials approached him and asked him to stop recording.
Sportssport.BA claimed (translated from Bosnian to English): “After a brief discussion, the recording was stopped, but the question remains as to who sent the EUFOR member and with what intention, specifically at the time of the official training session of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.
“It is clear that Gennaro Gattuso and his coaching staff do not want to leave anything to chance, so this move fits into the narrative of the Azzurri’s detailed preparation.
“It is known that before major matches, especially in World Cup qualifiers, similar situations have been seen before across Europe.”
Italy have failed to qualify for the previous three World Cups – in 2022, 2018 and 2014. The four-time World Cup winners enter tonight’s clash as favourites, with stars such as Sandro Tonali in their ranks.
However, as Wales found out last week, Bosnia are no mugs and will no doubt call on the experience of former Manchester City forward Edin Džeko, who leads the line.
After Bosnia defeated Wales on penalties to set up the play-off clash, several Italy players were spotted celebrating.
“I don’t know why Italy preferred not to play in Wales; we went there without fear and won,” Džeko said when addressing the footage.
“Italy are an incredible national team, having won four World Cups. If they’re afraid to play in Wales, something isn’t right. After failing to qualify for the last two World Cups, they’re now playing for a lot.”
The 40-year-old also revealed that Inter and Italy full-back Federico Dimarco apologised for his teammates’ actions.
Džeko added: “Dimarco wrote to me saying he didn’t mean to offend anyone; I replied that there’s no problem as far as I’m concerned.
“Everyone has their own preferences; that’s normal. I can’t celebrate because I would have preferred to avoid Italy in the final.
“You have to be careful and smart, especially nowadays with social media, where everything gets blown out of proportion.”
Topics: Football, Italy, Gennaro Gattuso
Luke Davies