World Cup return on the line for Italy and Bosnia

Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina meet in a World Cup playoff on Tuesday with both sides aiming to end their 12-year absence from the showpiece tournament and erase memories of playoff heartbreak, in a fixture that rekindles memories of Bosnia's first international win.

The possibility of four-time champion Italy missing a third consecutive World Cup has already grabbed the headlines, and its last participation in 2014 coincided with Bosnia's sole appearance on soccer's biggest stage.

Italy fell at the playoff hurdle for both the 2018 and 2022 editions, while Bosnia's record is equally bleak. Bosnia lost at this stage for the 2010 World Cup and has missed out in the playoffs for the last four European Championships.

Adding extra historical weight for Bosnia, its first victory as an independent nation came against Italy nearly 30 years ago.

Bosnian players featured at World Cups as far back as 1950 as part of the former Yugoslavia, and although the country declared independence in 1992, Bosnia had to wait until 1996 to gain official FIFA membership.

Bosnia's first qualification campaign began that year for the 1998 World Cup, but the first game to take place in the capital Sarajevo after the Bosnian War was a friendly against Italy in November 1996.

Italy was the first national team to play in a city still emerging from the 1992-95 siege during the war, sending a message to the world that Sarajevo was a safe place to host international soccer.

The game, Bosnia's fifth official international, kicked off in the early afternoon as the Kosevo Olympic Stadium did not yet have working floodlights, with 40,000 fans in attendance and the match broadcast live on Italian television.

"It hardly needs saying that the significance of this match goes far beyond the sporting and football occasion itself," RAI commentator, the late Bruno Pizzul said as the game began.

Bosnia won 2-1 to deliver the country's first victory, marking its arrival on the international stage, while Italy manager Arrigo Sacchi resigned in the wake of his side's defeat.

Higher stakes

Three decades on, the stakes are very different. Another Italy loss would bring further turmoil to a proud soccer nation under intense pressure to perform and halt a decline stretching back to its last World Cup triumph 20 years ago.

Italy's two heavy defeats to Norway in qualifying meant another playoff, and after seeing off Northern Ireland at home on Thursday, Tuesday's game in Zenica could finally bring an end to its World Cup exile.

Bosnia also finished second in its qualifying group, losing one game to Austria. A penalty shootout win over Wales in its playoff semifinal gives it the chance to reach the finals for the second time.

Weather conditions forced Italy into a late change of plan. Snow fell in Zenica on Saturday, and, with rain following on Sunday, concerns over pitch conditions mean that Gennaro Gattuso's side will train at its home base of Coverciano on Monday morning.

There will also be a reduced capacity at the Bilino Polje Stadium owing to FIFA disciplinary sanctions imposed following incidents at Bosnia's last home game against Romania in November.

Despite a smaller crowd and bad weather, a fiery atmosphere awaits in Zenica for a clash that will see the winner return to the promised land of World Cup soccer.

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