Before he became a hero for an unlikely World Cup team that knocked out a historic powerhouse, Esmir Bajraktarević was a kid from a small Midwestern town.
Bajraktarević, who picked up the nickname “Milwaukee Messi” along his journey, etched his name in lore back in March for Bosnia and Herzegovina by eliminating Italy from contention for this summer’s tournament.
Bajraktarević may not have grown up in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the 21-year-old was raised eating borek (a savory, flaky pastry filled with cheese, spinach or meat) and cevapi (sausages made of minced meat). He was brought up understanding the struggles of his parents who escaped a war-torn country to settle in Appleton, Wisconsin, which has a population of 75,000.
He spoke Bosnian and listened to Bosnian music at home, and loved to play soccer in the backyard with his brother. They practiced penalty kicks every day, usually imagining German legend Manuel Neuer in goal. Bajraktarevic dreamed of scoring in the World Cup.
(Photo by Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
It’s why, as he stepped up to take up the decisive penalty against the Azzurri on a chilly night in the Bosnian town of Zenica and a World Cup spot on the line — with one of his childhood idols in Edin Dzeko standing mere yards behind him — Bajraktarević was up for the moment.
“Here it is,” Bajraktarević told himself, “I can win it.”
And so he drilled a left-footed shot under the diving Italian captain and Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. As the ball hit the bottom left corner of the net, the PSV Eindhoven winger ran toward supporters in the stands, tore off his shirt and held it up proudly in front of a roaring crowd.
“It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in my life,” Bajraktarević told me about the moment, before joking that he knows there’s a video clip somewhere of him crying. “It was like a dream come true. It sounds [cheesy], but that’s the only way I can explain it.”
Bajraktarević’s penalty kick meant Italy would miss a third straight World Cup, and it placed Bosnia and Herzegovina in a winnable Group B alongside co-hosts Canada, as well as Qatar and Switzerland.
(Photo by Samir Jordamovic/Anadolu via Getty Images)
