Editor’s note: This is the latest piece in PSP’s World Cup series, in which PSP’s writers and a few honored guests make the case for which team you should root for in the World Cup after the United States. Read the full series here.

The signs of war linger. You see them in the villages and the city.

The sounds of war echo in memory. They reverberate through people’s stories and recollections, spoken or silent.

—

History is stacked against them.

The present isn’t too great either.

—

You’re American. You should root for the little guy. It’s hard-wired into your sports genes.

Meet David. Or at least, one of the Davids.

—

You understand these sorts of things instinctively.

Your head tells you various things. Your gut tells you one thing.

Everyone deserves happiness sometimes.

—

It is often easier to divide than unite. Not always, but often. Humans, blessed with free will, don’t always agree.

So many things divide human beings. Ethnicity, gender, religion, geography, material goods. We fight wars over things big and small. We fight, and we kill, and we do it over and over again.

But what about the things that can bring us together?

Not like blind lemmings, following charismatic leaders who appeal to base nationalism, xenophobia, and conformity.

I mean the good things, the simple ones.

Children’s laughter. A good meal. Fresh air. And sports.

Soccer.

Now we come to Bosnia and Herzegovina, for whom the World Cup can be so much more than for any other nation.

—

Twenty years ago, they fought a war in these Balkan lands that wiped out thousands.

Over what? (Does it even matter? It’s war.)

Age-old ethnic and religious divisions reemerged in the wake of Yugoslavia’s collapse and tore apart the region, which had been multiethnic since the Ottoman Empire’s reign, comprised of a triumvirate of ethnic/religious groups: Catholic Croats, Muslim Bosniaks, and Orthodox Croats.

After a few years of war, the divisions remained, but a whole lot more people were dead. Without turning this into a history lesson or rehashing the conflict, it’s enough to say that the war ravaged the countries and tore families apart.

Where people went, soccer followed. Refugees fled the region to parts throughout the world, including places like St. Louis, where a large Bosnian population remains.

Today, some of those refugees play for the Bosnian national soccer team.

This year marks the first time that a team solely from Bosnia and Herzegovina will play in the World Cup.

—

The multiethnic national team’s qualification for the World Cup set off historic celebrations last year in Sarajevo. As The Guardian newspaper wrote after Bosnia’s qualification:

“It will go down as probably the most joyful moment in the chronically divided country of Bosnia-Herzegovina in almost two decades, as qualification for next year’s World Cup triggered ecstatic all-night celebrations on the streets of the capital and other cities.

“For a day or two at least, the ethnic frictions and political dysfunction dissolved in an outpouring of pride. Adnan Hadzic, on the streets until the small hours, said it was the happiest night of his life. ‘I have never felt like this. It’s magical … there are no words. After all the mess we see every day, we need this happiness,’ he said.”

Now imagine what a deep World Cup run would do for this country.

Can sports heal old wounds? No. The scars always remain.

But they can help us to forget. To come together and celebrate — together.

Bosniak, Serb, Croat — They will all root for their country in the World Cup. Some may be slow to the party — Republika Srpska, I’m looking at you — but they’ll get there eventually.

You should join them. If you were to pick any team after the United States to root for, then Bosnia is the one.

Bosnia needs this happiness. Their soccer team can give it to them.