Bosnia boss Barbarez refuses to apologise to Cooper

Bosnia-Herzegovina manager Sergei Barbarez has refused to apologise to Brondby’s Welsh boss Steve Cooper for his controversial comments in the lead-up to Thursday’s World Cup play-off in Cardiff.

Barbarez had accused Cooper of dropping Bosnia midfielder Benjamin Tahirovic from the Danish side because of this week’s qualifier against Wales, something Brondby officials denied.

Tahirovic is understood to have since contacted Cooper to apologise about the matter.

Instead, the former Bosnia-Herzegovina striker hinted he had deliberately created headlines in an effort to divert attention towards him and away from the 23-year-old former Roma and Ajax player.

“The only important thing for me is that I trust my players, and the idea of all this was to create a puzzle for you so you can think about all these things,” said Barbarez on Wednesday.

“I had the idea to protect the player. That’s where all this talking was from.

“I’ve known Benjamin for the last two years, and I know what a good player he is and how he can be.

Bellamy laughed off the surreal subplot earlier on Wednesday, adding he had not spoken to Cooper since the former Swansea City, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City boss was appointed by Brondby in September 2025.

Brondby’s communications director Soren Hanghoj rejected Barbarez’s claim and said the player’s omission was a “club decision”, adding: “And there are not that many Wales fans in Brondby after all.”

There will, though, be a sizeable contingent of Bosnian fans who make the trip to the Cardiff City Stadium with their side needing to beat Wales to remain on track to reach their first World Cup since 2014.

The winners in south Wales on Thursday are guaranteed a home final against the winners of Italy or Northern Ireland on Tuesday, 31 March.

Ranked 71st in the world, the Bosnians were edged out of automatic qualification by Austria when they conceded late in a final group game decider in Vienna.

“We cannot compare these two games, against Wales and Austria,” said Barbarez.

“We took some conclusion from the Austria game and we have spoken about it for three days about the experience we have taken from it.

“We have a plan and every eventuality is covered, including penalties and extra time. We are optimistic. These are the games you play football for.”

Forty-year-old former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko is among the group of players who have travelled to Cardiff, though he is not guaranteed to start.

His Schalke team-mate Nikola Katic, formerly of Rangers and Plymouth Argyle, said: “The atmosphere in these kind of matches here is always brilliant and we will give our best.

“This is a serious team we are playing against, but we will play our own game and we are prepared for every eventuality.