SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina) - The secret to how Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for FIBA EuroBasket 2022 with two games still to play can be summed up in one word.

Teamwork.

I'm talking about the players, the coaches, the federation, the fans.

We did this together, winning three of our first four games in the Qualifiers to make sure we'll play in a European Championship for the first time in seven years. We started with a one-point win at Latvia in February and then fell to Greece, 70-65, in Tuzla. In this window, we defeated Bulgaria by 39 points in Sarajevo and then beat Latvia again, this time 79-73.

In 2018, when I took over the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team, we essentially started from zero. I told the players then and continue to tell them now that we have to play good defense. I also tell them we go into every game to win, no matter who the opponent is.

It's not been an easy two years, though.

We changed a generation of players and new people also came into the federation. It was really hard work but again, there was a lot of good connections between the players, coaching staff, federation, federation president, federation director.

We all worked hard to together to make a good analysis of the Bosnia and Herzegovina players and to give them the chance to become those we can count on in this qualification.

"(IN THE BUBBLE), WE LIVED LIKE SOLDIERS ... ALWAYS TOGETHER, TALKING TO EACH OTHER EVERY SECOND OF THE DAY AT PRACTICE, LUNCH."

To that end, in 2019, we took our B team to China for three weeks to play a lot of games and give everyone a chance to show what they could do. Four players from that team are now in the main team, like Kenan Kamenjas, the highest rated player in overall efficiency for us in the Qualifiers. He was only an 18-year-old kid when I brought him in, yet he was one of the main factors for us in our games in Sarajevo in the second window.

Sani Campara, Amar Gegic - they were players that also led the B team in China and now they, too, have become important players, getting big minutes. Of course we had some players from before to help but to bring in young players and work with them and get to the EuroBasket, it just makes this story wonderful.

The second window, when we had to play in the bubble because of the coronavirus pandemic, we missed the fans. Yet what happened in this week, this window, is something I'll never forget.

For these seven days, we lived like soldiers. We were always together, talking to each other every second of the day, whether it was at practice, at lunch, before meetings. We talked about what was important for each player to do.

Here is when I was convinced we were going to have a great window.

For our first practice, both of our physios had to leave the bubble after testing positive for the coronavirus. We needed someone to tape the players and we had no one. So the players taped each other and as I saw how they helped each other and saw how seriously they did this, I thought, 'These are my guys. No one will stop us. We'll win both games. We'll beat both teams.'

And then watching our team play, did you see Edin Atic block those shots at the rim on the Latvia fast breaks and also dive out of bounds to save a very important ball for us?

Atic was amazing. Here's the thing. People don't know that he's also a very good defender. They know him for his offense, yet he what he did against Latvia was show that when everyone does something extra, it helps us. It builds confidence and makes it very difficult for other teams to play against us. And he's just 23.

I feel so much responsibility coaching Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country of legendary players like Mirza Delibasic, Nenad Markovic and Mirza Teletovic, who is now our federation president but was not long ago one of the best shooters in Europe.

We've got another window of games to play but the message I'll give the players before each game, and the ones at the EuroBasket, will remain the same. We're going into every game to win.

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Vedran Bosnic

Having spent many years as a fiery, intelligent point guard in Europe, Vedran Bosnic changed gears and transitioned to the world of coaching. In Sweden, where he finished his playing career with Sodertalje Kings, he began to cut his teeth as an assistant coach and two seasons later was promoted to head coach. During his stint of several years at the helm, while leading the outfit to four league titles and and being named Basketligan Coach of the Year on five occasions,  Bosnic was also put in charge of Sweden's national team. After being handed the reins to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnic claimed the rare distinction of leading two national teams during international windows, since they were introduced in 2017.