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Bosnian fans flooding St. Louis, everyone sorry for missing Messi

Safet Sušić, the coach of Bosnia and Herzegovina, claims that his team won't play defensively against the Argentina that is miss Messi, which is a potential indicator for many goals in St. Louis, a town with many immigrants from the Balkans

Four days ago, Argentina played their first preparatory game against Ecuador since securing their place at the World Cup, and today at St. Louis they will face Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Coach Alejandro Sabella couldn't count on Lionel Messi, so he used what might be construed as an experimental squad. As he announced, the most experiments came in the defensive department, while attack and midfield also included some players that were not expected to start. The game did not offer too much of good football and ended in 0-0.

- The game against Bosnia and Herzegovina will serve as a great test for additional things in the game. I can say that the keeper and the back four will completely different than the one against Ecuador, and there will probably another change or two. Unfortunately, Argentina have not taken part in a major tournament in a while and I haven't had an opportunity to gather my players for 15-20 days to organize them the best way possible. We always meet each other for two or three days and I'm forced to make many improvisations - Alejandro Sabella announced new experiments. 

Agusting Orion, a reserve player during the qualifications, should start on Argentina's goal today, while the back line will include Pablo Zabaleta, Nicolas Otamendi, Jose Basanta and Marcos Rojo. In comparison to the Ecuador game, there should be some changes up front where Sergio Aguero should start with Rodrigo Palacio.

The whole America will come to greet their Brazilians! The headlines such as this are all over Bosnian newspapers, a country in trance after their national team qualified for the World Cup, and St. Louis will also be in trance as this is the place of residence for many Bosnian immigrants, and many more will come from all American cities and states. At least 20,000 Bosnian fans are expected on the stadium, and everybody is sorry that injured Lionel Messi will not be playing as this would be a real challenge in exhibition games such as this.

- The game against Argentina will help us see where we stand in comparison to the world's best, as we haven't beaten a big team yet. We will try to beat this weakened Argentina who will be playing without Messi, even though they are an excellent team without him, that is, they are among the best three in the world with him, and among the top five or six without him - said Bosnian coach Safet Sušić, who didn't bring some players who used to compete for the squad positions, such as Ramimić, Pandža and Stevanović, while injuries ruled out Mujdža, Zukanović, and Salihović, who tore his muscle in his last practice in St Louis.

This is why young Schalke player Sead Kolašinec will play as the left back instead of Salihović.

- We welcomed Kolašinec into the team and we want him to stay here as much as possible. He is a young player with many years at the top level ahead of him. This is a player that will mean a lot for our national team and I hope some additional players will appear in the upcoming six months that I will be able to count on for the World Cup - said Sušić, who claims that his team will not yield against powerful Argentinian squad as that would be counterproductive. This announces an open game with lots of goals.

- In my opinion, fast players like Aguero are not a problem for us as Spahić and Bičakčić are very fast and agile defensive players. Our problem might lie in the fact that we play too openly, but we've decided to play that way a long time ago. When we don't have the ball, any team can cause problems to us, but when we have it we are very dangerous - Bosnian coach explained, also emphasizing that a positive result would be important in many aspects.

- A result here is very important, especially in terms of confidence. It is also important not to let the people down as they will come from all over America and the world and every good result will have an impact in the world of football. I'm sure all players will give more than their maximum today - concluded Safet Sušić, who won't change the usual 4-4-2 with Džeko and Ibišević up front.

- It seems that this will be like playing at Bilina polje in Zenica. There is a lot of our people here and I think we'll give them a good performance and we won't disappoint them. I am not nervous, despite playing against one of the best teams in the world, as this is a friendly game. If this were a qualification game I would surely be a bit nervous. It is important for us to see where we stand in comparison to their players, in order to start preparing for the WC - said young midfielder Izet Hajrović, the scorer of one of the historical goals against Slovakia,  while the hero of Kaunas Vedad Ibišević should be the most emotional as he grew up in St. Louis. 

Argentian and Bosnia and Herzegovina played 15 years ago and it was 5-0 for Argentina, but now Bosnia have the best generation in their football history.

Considering the game has no competitive tension, I expect it to go in an exhibition tone from both teams with lots of goals. The Argentinian coach announced a completely new back line which should result in a certain insecurity at the back, while the attacking names are Europe's top tier players. A few days ago, Argentina played 0-0 against a tough Ecuadorian team and they would surely hate to be left goalless once again. And Bosnia and Herzegovina are not a team that would park the bus against them. Especially since they do not have the team for it, and especially since this game does not mean much in term of competition. Džeko and co. will want to show what they've got in front of the numerous fans, but I think they can do that only by attacking. Bosnia have been going into over, against all teams that play open football. They struggle against the bunker, but that is certainly not the way Argentina will play. They've gone over in 5 of their last 6 games, Bosnia in 6 out of last 8.