Asmir Begovic hopes his positive energy can rub off on Chelsea

The Bosnian 'keeper has seen his country's form turn around suddenly

Asmir Begovic in action for Bosnia and Herzegovina (Getty Images)

Asmir Begovic is waiting for that right in-game moment, one he is insistent will come. He has already seen it with Bosnia-Herzegovina in the past year, and is sure he will with Chelsea in the next few weeks. It’s that remarkably fickle point in a match where, rather than some 50-50 piece of luck going against you, it goes for you and everything stems from there.

Such a moment can lead to a total transformation, and is one reason Begovic is set to experience a contrasting month. The goalkeeper will today leave the oppressive pressure at Chelsea for the optimism of the Bosnia-Herzegovina camp. While his club are striving to climb the table, his country are hoping to qualify for only their second tournament, as they host the Republic of Ireland in the first leg of their Euro 2016 play-off in Zenica on Friday.

The twist is that Bosnia’s campaign at one point looked finished soon after getting started. They claimed two points from their opening four games, losing to Cyprus and Israel in a group that saw Wales and Belgium in such fine form.

In short, their situation seemed worse than Chelsea’s. They turned it around through getting the “positive energy” back, and Begovic feels his club can do the same.

“That’s what football is, a very short-term game,” Begovic says. “A couple of things go your way and you start getting a couple of results, you get a good feeling, and it goes from there really.

“It snowballs one way or the other. When it goes in a negative way, you’ve just got to try keep working hard to turn it around, and you sort of need that plug to make it happen.”

Begovic has often plugged holes for Chelsea, and his form in the absence of the injured Thibaut Courtois has been a major reason why some matches have not had a worse outcome.

He is the kind of character prepared to knuckle down in the way Jose Mourinho demands, and fully believes Chelsea will climb the table. As he puts it, he has “never shied away from a challenge”. That is one reason why he is at Stamford Bridge in the first place. There was some surprise in the summer when a highly sought-after goalkeeper chose notionally to sit behind Courtois on the bench, but Begovic never saw it like that.

That’s what football is - a very short-term game

&#13; <p>Asmir Begovic</p>&#13;

He felt his career needed the jolt of trying to force his way into such a team. “I was very comfortable at Stoke, and I feel like I needed something to get me going again. That’s the decision I made, I took the biggest challenge, the biggest option, the biggest club, the biggest pressure, and it’s something I feed off. So far it’s been challenging, but it’s what football is about.”

Football is also about elusive, exhilarating moments like getting a small country to international tournaments. Begovic was part of the “huge positive experience” of Bosnia’s first World Cup in 2014, and that only fed the desire to get to their first European Championship.

He says it has been deepened by the country’s recent history, which is itself emphasised by the details of his life. The Begovic family were forced to leave war-torn Bosnia when he was four, going first to Germany and then to Canada when he was 10.

“We’ve all had families who’ve struggled through war and different experiences… when your life gets ripped apart. My family had a very good life in Bosnia. My dad was a professional footballer, my mum was studying to be a lawyer, then next second you go to a country where you don’t know the language, don’t know anyone. My parents had it very difficult.

“As you get older you think, ‘Man, what my parents and family did’. It wasn’t a very difficult decision, just what had to be done to guarantee a better life. But when you’re in war-type situations nothing is guaranteed, things can look very bleak.”

The diaspora returning for matches like Friday’s only adds to the raucous atmosphere of the compact Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica, where he says Bosnia plan to attack Ireland: “I know many stories from people coming from Australia, America to watch these games. The fans are very passionate, very proud of their country, and it’s something we feed off.

“It’s a very special atmosphere – you don’t get that passion all the time – but the whole city feels the vibe a couple of days before the game.”

Begovic is hoping it can carry through to a much better vibe, for both his teams, over the next few months.