On the road to Russia’s World Cup in 2018, there are few hazy spots on the map. Officially, the Russian government does not recognise Kosovo as a sovereign country, which puts the Kremlin at odds with a majority of the states of the United Nations.

There might be some issues, then, to iron out should the small, young state of Kosovo write a fairytale and reach the tournament’s finals.

It is over eight years since Kosovo, with a population of just under two million, declared its independence from Serbia, the most recent of the many schisms in the long break-up of what, until the 1990s, was known as Yugoslavia.

On Thursday, the Kosovo national team play their first competitive ‘home’ qualifying match, though there are a few issues to be resolved before the supporters and players feel truly at home.

The World Cup qualifying tie against Croatia will be staged in the Albanian city of Shkoder as the facilities in Pristina, the Kosovan capital are not yet deemed up to the standards of Fifa, who accepted the country’s independence in 2012.

More from 2018 World Cup qualifying:

• UAE v Thailand: Time, tickets, and what you need to know

• Nigeria v Zambia: Moses and Success ruled out

• South Korea: Son Heung-min a ‘problematic’ player

Since then, quite a lot of what has happened to Kosovo has come at a rush. Last month, as the national squad prepared for its first ever World Cup qualifier, away in Finland, the eligibility of half a dozen players was only ratified on the afternoon of the game itself. These are the sorts of teething troubles that often afflict a new nation; several of the team have international histories with other countries, many with neighbouring Albania, and several — because they come from the large Kosovan diaspora — with countries further afield.

That this hurried, patchwork assembly of talents managed a 1-1 draw with the Finns was quite an achievement in the circumstances. The scorer of Kosovo’s historic first competitive goal, to equalise from 1-0 down, Valon Berisha was among those whom Fifa had deemed eligible to play just a few hours before kick-off.

Born in Sweden, and with over 40 age-group caps for Norway, where he grew up, Berisha, 23, is excited at the way his new adventure has begun. “For a group of young players who don’t know each other so well, we made a very good first impression,” he said.

In an ideal world, Berisha, of Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg, and the likes of Bersant Celina, a 20-year-old midfielder on the books of Manchester City, would be competing for places with more worldly stars, like Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka, two mainstays of the Switzerland team, who have Kosovan backgrounds and strong loyalties to Kosovo but whose international careers with the Switzerland they grew up in are long established. Both chose to remain Swiss, though they were active in lobbying Fifa to accelerate Kosovo’s acceptance as a new Fifa member.

In the meantime, manager Albert Bunjaki hopes that a solid showing in Group I of European qualifying for Russia will persuade Kosovans that theirs is a country that can achieve a regular place at major tournament finals. In his mind is the reality that many potential Kosovo players have lived most of their lives outside the Balkan nation, because their parents left during the periods of conflict and regional instability that led to independence.

“Our real aim is getting to the European championship finals of 2020,” Bunjaki said, ahead of the two fixtures, against Croatia and then in Ukraine next week, that on paper present a tougher test than Finland. “Croatia will be a really difficult game.”

It will be, even without the pair of Croatian midfielders, Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, both out with injury.

Croatia are also a model for Kosovo, the shining example of what a new nation can aspire to. When Croatia emerged out of the fractured Yugoslavia 20 years ago — along with an independent Serbia and Slovenia, and later Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro — they made themselves contenders on international football fields rapidly, finishing with a bronze medal at the first World Cup they contested in 1998. There is never a shortage of talent in the Balkans, however many nations it spreads itself around.

The new boys of the region hope they can challenge the existing hierarchy.

“Maybe Croatia will underestimate us,” Berisha said. “And we can give them a surprise.”

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport