By Ana Cruz Manjarrez
Haris Medunjanin was only 7 years old when the war broke out in Bosnia in response to the declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on April 6, 1992. The conflict involved Serbs, Croats, and Muslims in extremely violent acts that at the time were only comparable to the violence of World War II.
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A series of decisions and the determination of his parents saved him from suffering the consequences of the disintegration of the six republics. Today, he wears the number 10 jersey and the captain's armband for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.
Haris' mother had to deal with the anguish of leaving the place she thought would be a safe place until her last days. In order to save Haris and his five-year-old sister, the three of them left the territory on one of the last buses, leaving behind their father, grandmother, and some uncles.
Forced to start a new story far from the bloody conflict and after a tormented journey due to the appearance of a Serbian man who threatened to kill the passengers, they arrived in Scandinavia, but without Swedish permission to settle, they found relative stability in Denmark.
For five years, they slept in tents, suffered from the cold, and changed camps as many times as necessary. At the same time, in their home country, thousands were tortured and killed, totaling more than 98,000 deaths.
There was no peace in the constant moves, but there was football. Haris started like many others, in the streets, and according to him, that was the best school for Bosnian play. "Many players are very technical because we played in the streets every day - from morning until night. You learn to play quickly in small spaces and know where to pass the ball when you receive it. You learn everything on the street," he told Inquirer.
The Medunjanin family left Denmark and reunited with their father in the Netherlands, where they finally found the possibility of forming a home. The tranquility was temporary because the father returned to Bosnia sick and died there.
Haris moved from Fortuna Sittard to AZ Alkmaar and since then, he has lived in Spain to be part of Valladolid and Deportivo La Coruña, in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv, in Turkey with Gaziantepspor, and in the United States to wear the Philadelphia Union jersey.
Although at one point in his youth he was teammates with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Ryan Babel in the Netherlands U-21 national team, he chose the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team in 2009 and insisted on constantly changing teams to get minutes and attend their first World Cup in 2014.
That generation of children marked by the violent conflict defended the shirt in Brazil. In that squad was Edin Dzeko, who did not have the same fortune and remained in war territory.
Edin avoids questions about that stage of his childhood, but he has revealed that he was at risk on more than one occasion. On one of the afternoons of football with friends, a sudden call from his mother saved him from dying from a bomb that fell right where he was playing. The three years of war meant constant escapes and living crowded in an apartment with fifteen people.
In the previous World Cup, they were eliminated in the group stage. Luck put them against Messi's Argentina and they failed in their debut, they also lost to Nigeria and won their first World Cup match against Iran. Small joys for a country that still suffers the consequences.
Bosnia and Herzegovina will not be in Russia 2018, however, Haris Medunjanin finds in football the best way to bring joy to his country. "There is no money, the renovation of the buildings has not happened. The only positive thing in Bosnia is football."