Former Wrexham youth coach Steve Cooper has been defended by current club Brondby over a conflict regarding the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers kick off in two days from now. 6 spots for the showpiece tournament set to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada are still up for grabs until this weekend.
Afterwards, the final 48 qualified nations will be confirmed. At Wrexham, Wales duo Nathan Broadhead and Danny Ward will be hoping to get over the line against Bosnia and Herzegovina first, and then all the way to a confirmed World Cup place.
Bailey Cadamarteri’s Jamaica are also in the hunt for World Cup qualification. Wrexham fans will undoubtedly be rooting for all these players to star for their respective national teams this week.
Amidst this exciting atmosphere, a conflict has broken out regarding the Wales vs Bosnia and Herzegovina showdown in recent days.
Former Wrexham coach Steve Cooper surrounded by Bosnia controversy
Steve Cooper began his playing career at Wrexham as an academy graduate. Many years later, his coaching spell also took off at the Racecourse as a youth team coach.
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Since then, Cooper has taken over youth management roles at Liverpool and England’s U17 team as well as tasted Premier League football at Nottingham Forest and then at Leicester City. Safe to say, Cooper has built a strong reputation for managing teams with immense youth talent.
That track record was recently brought into question for Cooper’s treatment of 23-year-old Bosnia star Benjamin Tahirovic. Both Cooper and Tahirovic find themselves on Brondby’s books. Like many cases of managers dropping key players for a game, Cooper leaving out Tahirovic for the 0-0 draw vs Aarhus didn’t go down well.
Often, the outrage for such lineup omissions comes from the club’s fans. However, the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team were hurt the most by the decision to rest Tahirovic.
Not only that, the Bosnia and Herzegovina manager Sergej Barbarez even went public to point fingers at ex-Wrexham man Steve Cooper. His reason was down to Wales playing Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday, so Cooper intentionally denied Tahirovic a decent playing time before that.
Steve Cooper defended over World Cup qualifiers conflict
Being a Welshman, Steve Cooper will have a soft spot for Wales to advance in this semi-final tie. But that doesn’t mean he would stoop so low to give Wales a slight upper hand over Bosnia and Herzegovina, just days ahead of the matchup.
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Fortunately for Cooper, his current employers Brondby have come forward to defend him. In his own words, the BBC quoted Brondby’s communication director Soren Hanghoj saying: “This is quite a far-reaching speculation. Steve has publicly stated the considerations behind the decision – and none of them have the slightest connection with either national team. That goes without saying.”
What next for Steve Cooper and Wales?
Steve Cooper’s Brondby side will next take to the pitch on 7th April in an away fixture against Nordsjaelland. Superliga title chances are almost over for Brondby this season as they sit 6th with 35 points in the Championship split.
The European football dreams are still alive for Brondby who will need to maximise their points from the remaining 10 games. As for Wales, they can’t afford to lose against Bosnia and Herzegovina if they are to keep their hopes intact of sealing back-to-back World Cup berths for the first time in Wales history.
Will Nathan Broadhead, Danny Ward and Wrexham transfer target Harry Wilson help fulfill Wales 2026 World Cup objective in the coming days, let’s see.
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