‘I didn’t think I’d be playing at 40’: Edin Dzeko on defying age to lead his country at the World Cup | World Cup 2026

“Sometimes there is an end for all of us, maybe mine is coming soon,” says Edin Dzeko, though first there is the small matter of captaining Bosnia and Herzegovina at only their second World Cup, lessons learned. “When I was 17, 18, people were telling me: ‘Experience is something you get by playing for so many years,’” he says, screwing up his face a little, “when you think like…