Dzeko and Misimovic hope to dump Ronaldo and Portugal out of the World Cup
By Jonathan Stevenson
The greatest danger to Cristiano Ronaldo's presence at the World Cup may not be the ankle injury that has ruled the £80m man out of Portugal's World Cup play-off ties with Bosnia-Hercegovina.
It might instead be the two brilliant Bosnians hoping to dump the Portuguese out of the tournament and send their country to a first ever finals.
In Edin Dzeko and Zvjezdan Misimovic, Bosnia have two footballers at the peak of their powers - and they cannot wait to test themselves against the 2006 semi-finalists over two legs.
"This is a huge event for the country," star striker Dzeko told BBC Sport ahead of the first tie in Lisbon on Saturday. "Everyone is looking forward to it, no-one more so than us.
We stand together like good friends and we have a lot of fun when we represent our country
Bosnia's Zvjezdan Misimovic
"It is such a big deal for us and we will be giving absolutely everything to win the games."
Winning games has become something of a habit for Dzeko and Misimovic, who are also club colleagues at previously unfashionable - not to mention unsuccessful - German side Wolfsburg.
In fact last season, in their first campaign together at the Volkswagen Arena, the Bosnians led Die Wolfe to their maiden Bundesliga crown, thrilling fans along the way with their effervescent, attacking philosophy.
Dzeko plundered 26 goals as he and Brazilian Grafite (who scored 28) became the most successful partnership in Bundesliga history - in no small measure thanks to the playmaking magic of Misimovic, sitting in the hole behind the front two.
Having conquered German football, the proud Bosnians now have their sights firmly set on taking their country to its first World Cup since gaining independence in 1992.
With Dzeko and Misimovic ably supported by a cast including Lyon's teenage midfield sensation Miralem Pjanic and the prolific Hoffenheim hitman Vedad Ibisevic, the Bosnians are hopeful of causing an almighty upset.
"We will try to win both games," Misimovic told BBC Sport. "If we could get a good result in Portugal in the first leg, then it would be possible to qualify in our own stadium with our fantastic fans.
"We are a really good team, we stand together like good friends and we have a lot of fun when we represent our country.
"I cannot say if these are the most important games in my career, but there's no doubt that right now, they are very, very important matches.
"We are a danger going forward because we have good strikers in the team and this helps to boost our confidence."
If Fifa's late decision to seed the teams involved in the play-offs was supposed to make life easier for the so-called bigger countries, it may have backfired on the Portuguese, especially in the absence of the talismanic Ronaldo.
Having made it to the last four in Germany in 2006 and reached two quarter-finals, one semi-final and one final in the last four European Championships, they will be among the favourites should they get to South Africa.
BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
Independence: 1 March, 1992
Population: 3.8m (UN, 2009)
Capital: Sarajevo
Did you know? Torvill and Dean danced their perfect Boléro at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo
After dumping England out at the quarter-final stage of Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, led by the charismatic Luiz Felipe Scolari, they became something of a nemesis for Sven-Goran Eriksson and his side in the process.
But shorn of their best player, without the injured Pedro Mendes and Jose Bosingwa too and with coach Carlos Queiroz under huge pressure, the Portuguese go into Saturday's first leg at the Estadio da Luz racked by self-doubt.
That is something the Bosnians, who have never come close to qualifying for a major tournament before, have not experienced.
"The Portuguese are favourites," admitted Dzeko. "They have a great team and a huge amount of experience, but that doesn't mean we don't stand a chance.
"We get along really well with each other and we are very dangerous going forward - all we lack is experience."
It is that lack of experience which makes Bosnia such a dangerous opponent for a Portugal side which, although still rich in quality, arguably reached its peak in 2006.
Few will expect them to qualify, yet if the tie is still in the melting pot come the second leg at the 35,000-capacity Bilino Polje in Zenica, the Bosnians and their wily coach Miroslav Blazevic - who led Croatia to a third-place finish at France 1998 - will fancy their chances.
Blazevic celebrates Bosnia's victory over Belgium in Zenica in April
When the draw was made, they were given little chance of getting even this far.
Grouped with Euro 2008 champions Spain and semi-finalists Turkey, along with Belgium, who qualified for six World Cups in a row from 1982-2002, the Bosnians were rank outsiders even to claim a play-off place.
But their campaign has thus far been a stunning success, the highlights including a 7-0 thrashing of Estonia and home and away wins over the Belgians.
Dzeko, who has 14 goals in 21 international appearances and nine in this qualifying campaign - the same as England's Wayne Rooney - says it would fulfil a dream to take Bosnia to the World Cup finals.
"It would be fantastic, really," said the 23-year-old. "As you know, Bosnia-Hercegovina has never played in a World Cup before.
"It would be incredible for us, but also for football it would be a big surprise if we made it."
And does Dzeko have a message for the nearly four million Bosnians praying their team can overcome the odds and book a place at one of the world's greatest sporting events?
"You are really wonderful! We will do our best for you!"
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