Bosnia head coach Barbarez: 'If it's 1-0 for us against Italy, we'll park the bus'

Bosnia head coach Sergej Barbarez says that he has no issue with ‘parking the bus’ if Bosnia and Herzegovina take the lead against Italy in their World Cup play-off final on Tuesday night, but says that he expects the bus to be parked down at the other end of the pitch if the scores are reversed.

Read Football Italia Ad-Free and get access to Exclusive News – Free Trial – Click Here Barbarez previews Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Italy play-off final Bosnia will welcome Italy to Zenica for the decisive World Cup play-off final on Tuesday evening, kicking off at 19.45 BST. The Azzurri beat Northern Ireland 2-0 in Bergamo to qualify on Thursday evening, while the hosts overcame Wales on penalties in Cardiff on the same night.

Despite playing for an additional half hour on Thursday evening, Barbarez has confirmed that all of his players are fit and raring to go against Italy on Tuesday night.

“Everyone is fine apart from the coach, who has lost his voice,” said Barbarez during his pre-match press conference . “We’ve had time to recover. The game was challenging but we’re happy. We hope to be able to hold on until the end.”

Read more: Dzeko warns: ‘If Italy are afraid to play in Wales, something isn’t working’ CARDIFF, WALES – MARCH 26: Edin Dzeko of Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammate Kerim Alajbegovic during the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-off match between Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina at Cardiff City Stadium on March 26, 2026 in Cardiff, Wales. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images) Reporters at Barbarez’s press conference asked him what he made of the suggestion that the Bosnia national team is ‘too slow’.

He replied: “Preparing for the game includes analysing how to play. What matters is my players and how they play tomorrow. It doesn’t matter what others think or what others have said.”

Reviewing his side’s penalty shoot-out victory over Wales in Cardiff last week, Barbarez added: “The game against Wales was full of emotions. We had a lot of energy and that was the biggest mistake. Now we feel smarter and we won’t make the same mistakes again. Tomorrow is another day, whatever happens, you have to live with it.

“There are so many feelings for Italy, it’s so important for them, but also for us. Given the situation in the country, it’s even more important.”

And what has Barbarez made of the Italy national team from his analysis thus far.

BERGAMO, ITALY – MARCH 26: Sandro Tonali of Italy celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammates Mateo Retegui and Moise Kean during the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Italy and Northern Ireland at Stadio di Bergamo on March 26, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images) “We will have to have courage and pay attention to the details, play at our best,” he said. “We can’t create any panicked situations and might need a bit of luck to score a few goals.

“If we score and it’s 1-0 for us, we’ll park the bus at one end of the pitch, otherwise, we’ll park it at the other end. Let’s start the game first. I’m happy to have made it this far. I feel and see the love that comes from these players.”

Lastly, Barbarez admitted that he is unlikely to make any surprise changes to his line-up or set-up approaching the Italy decider: “We’ve been playing with a consistent system for a year and a half, I don’t know if it’s the time for experiments.”