There is history in every direction here. For Canada, this is the moment the country has waited 40 years for: the first men’s World Cup match played on home soil, in front of a sold-out BMO Field in Toronto. Canada have played at only two previous World Cups, Mexico 1986 and Qatar 2022, and have never won a match, going scoreless across three games in 1986 and pointless again in 2022. Now ranked a record-high 27th in the world under American coach Jesse Marsch, the co-hosts believe this is the year that changes.

For Bosnia and Herzegovina, simply being here is a triumph. As ESPN documented, they reached only their second-ever World Cup by beating Wales and then four-time champions Italy in back-to-back penalty shootouts. In the final in Zenica on March 31, Haris Tabaković equalised in the 79th minute before 21-year-old Esmir Bajraktarević buried the decisive penalty, sending Italy to a third straight World Cup absence and Bosnia into raptures.

At the heart of it all stands Edin Džeko, 40 years old, Bosnia’s record scorer with 73 goals, playing the final World Cup of a remarkable career. He scored the 86th-minute equaliser against Wales that forced the first shootout. The cruel twist for neutrals is that four-time champions Italy are watching from home while Bosnia, with nothing to lose, walk into Toronto carrying a genuine set-piece threat that Canada’s back line must respect.