Four Years After His Last Cap, a Forgotten Striker Just Punched Canada in the Mouth

Buckle up, because the 2026 World Cup just served up the kind of script Hollywood wouldn’t dare pitch. Bosnia and Herzegovina took the lead against tournament co-host Canada on Friday — and the man who delivered the header hadn’t worn his nation’s jersey in nearly five years.

Jovo Lukic, a 28-year-old forward currently playing in Romania’s top division, was handed a surprise start over legendary captain Edin Džeko. Less than 30 minutes later, he powered home a corner kick to make it 1-0 in Toronto. The goal was his first ever for Bosnia. The last time he touched the pitch for his country? December 2021.

Yes, you read that right. One cap. Then nothing. Then a World Cup opener.

The Backstory That Makes This Even Wilder

Lukic made his international debut in a World Cup qualifier more than four years ago, then promptly vanished from the national team picture. No call-ups. No buzz. Not a single minute. Most observers assumed his international career was dead in the water.

But Bosnia head coach Sergej Barbarez kept watching. Lukic was plugging away in Romania, scoring consistently for a mid-table club nobody outside the Balkans pays attention to. When Barbarez unveiled his World Cup roster in late May, Lukic’s name raised eyebrows. When he named him in the starting XI against the Canadians — ahead of Džeko, the nation’s all-time leading scorer — the reaction was somewhere between confusion and disbelief.

Then the corner kick came. And Lukic rose.

“He’s a player who knows where the goal is,” Barbarez said after the match, according to postgame reports. “We believed in his timing and his movement. Today it paid off.”

What This Means for Group A

Canada entered the tournament as a co-host with legitimate hopes of advancing. A loss to Bosnia — especially on a goal from a virtual unknown — throws Group A wide open. The Canadians will now need to regroup quickly against a physical Bosnia side that suddenly believes in its depth.

For Lukic, the moment is surreal. Five years of waiting, one start, one header, and a place in World Cup history. Stories like this don’t just write themselves — they demand to be told.