Thursday brings the start of the second set of group stage games as the FIFA World Cup enters Week 2.
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Facing off after similar 1-1 draws in their opening Group B matches, Bosnia and Herzegovina meets fellow UEFA side Switzerland at noon in Inglewood.
Kicking off in Toronto, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first World Cup tilt against a CONCACAF team saw them score early but hold on late to take a point and sour Canada’s day.
Despite going ahead on a first-half penalty and firing more shots than any Swiss team in a World Cup contest, they too coughed up a lead thanks to an own goal in the 94th minute versus Qatar in Santa Clara.
“We had an idea and we wanted to be very dominant, very attacking,” Switzerland manager Murat Yakin told reporters. “We created very good chances, but unfortunately we weren’t always efficient. Maybe we weren’t smart enough, not precise enough in the end.”
With all four teams level on points, Stage 2 takes on an anything-goes feel in a group regarded as the weakest of the dozen.
Switzerland, ranked 19th in the world by FIFA, won its World Cup qualifying group in Europe but has something to prove in the U.S. after dropping points to an opponent 30 spots below it in the rankings.
The Bosnians, ranked 63rd, have gone unbeaten in their last nine matches overall (2-0-7). Known as “The Dragons,” Bosnia and Herzegovina survived the build-up to the tournament by beating Wales and Italy in shootouts to escape the qualifying playoffs.
Edin Džeko, 40, scored a late equalizer against Wales in March to keep their hopes alive. The former Manchester City forward, now playing in the Bundesliga with Schalke 04, joins Sead Kolašinac, a center back in the Serie A for Atalanta, as the only members of the current squad who featured in the Dragons’ other trip to the FIFA World Cup when it was hosted by Brazil in 2014.
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Bosnia and Herzegovina finished third in their group that year, notching a win against two losses.
Recalling the experience in a column for The Players Tribune, Džeko wrote: “Do you remember 2014? Most of you were probably not born yet. But when we qualified for our first World Cup, it was the greatest day of our lives.”
“Unfortunately, luck was not on our side in Brazil,” he said. “You won’t remember this, but I scored a goal against Nigeria that should have stood, and there was no VAR in those days, so we went out of our group. But at least our little country got to play at the Maracanã. At least we showed the world who we are.”
That year, Switzerland beat another Balkan side, Serbia, in the group stage before losing in the Round of 16 to Argentina. This is as far as the Swiss have advanced in the World Cup. Participating for the sixth straight time, the Rossocrociati (Red Crosses) entered 2026 as a dark horse to go deeper into the knockout phase than it had in 2006, 2014, 2018 and 2022. This time around that requires winning a pair of knockout games in the expanded 48-team format.
The potent Swiss roster, especially in the middle of the park and attack led by captain Granit Xhaka, an important midfielder who wears the armband for Sunderland in the Premier League, must be better about converting opportunities against Džeko’s side.
If not, dropped points would elevate Switzerland’s stress level ahead of the final group stage match versus Canada on June 24 in Vancouver, while Bosnia and Herzegovina encounters Qatar in Seattle.
Group B sends its second-place finisher to Inglewood four days later to battle No. 2 from Group A in a Round of 32 clash.
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World Cup
Who: Switzerland vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina (Group B)
When: Noon Thursday
Where: Inglewood
TV: FOX (Ch. 11)