Stoke seek Begovic solution

The Potters feared their first-choice goalkeeper would be ineligible for their weekend trip to Birmingham following an international wrangle. Begovic angered the authorities in his homeland after pulling out of a friendly date with Mexico in Atlanta. With that representing the second time he had withdrawn from international duty, having previously missed a meeting with Slovakia with flu, the Bosnian FA vowed to take action against the 23-year-old. They planned to block him from turning out for his domestic employers, with national coach Safet Susic frustrated by his friendly no-show with a supposed knock. Stoke eventually managed to resolve the situation in time for Begovic to figure at St Andrew's, but chief executive Tony Scholes admits further discussions are required in order to prevent the club versus country row from erupting again in the future. "There was an initial objection from the Bosnians to Asmir playing on Saturday and that followed a misunderstanding between them and Asmir over whether he had to travel to the United States last week," Scholes told The Sentinel. "As a result, we entered into extensive discussions with them in the latter part of last week and, after those discussions, they didn't object to him playing against Birmingham. "We also agreed that we would go and meet them to avoid this sort of thing happening again. "Asmir is proud of his country and is keen to carry on playing for them. "We just need to find a solution that meets the Bosnian FA's requirements, our club's requirements and, of course, which also meet Asmir's own desires. "I would also like to stress that at no point has the club put any pressure on Asmir not to go and play for his country."