Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez said his players should celebrate their World Cup journey and hold their heads up high despite exiting the tournament with their defeat by the United States on Wednesday.
Bosnia and Herzegovina lost 2-0 to the co-hosts in the round of 32 in the San Francisco Bay Area in their first-ever World Cup knockout-round appearance.
Bosnia drew with co-hosts Canada, beat Qatar and lost to Switzerland in the group stage after reaching the 48-team World Cup via playoffs, denying former champions Italy a spot.
“I was really proud of them,” Barbarez said of his team. “This is the result that we should celebrate, we shouldn’t be sad, because this is part of life, part of football, especially in a big competition like this.”
The game with the United States was challenging, he said, and his team made costly mistakes, failed to create chances or make use of the ball.
Barbarez said he was looking forward to the team returning home to meet the people, adding: “Video messages are nice and great, phone calls are great, but being among people, only then will we understand how good this is, how big this.”
“Although we were down two goals, my heart was really full when I was watching them,” he said. “This is really a beautiful thing, and I’m the proudest coach in the world right now.”
