Football World Cup 2014 / Bosnia and Herzegovina

This article covers the Bosnian-Herzegovinian national football team at the 2014 World Cup . Bosnia and Herzegovina took part in a final round for the first time and was the only newcomer to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but failed in the preliminary round.

qualification

Bosnia and Herzegovina played in European qualifying Group G . Opponents were Greece , Slovakia , Lithuania , Latvia and Liechtenstein . Bosnia and Herzegovina played all home games in the Bilino Polje in Zenica although there are larger stadiums in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina fought head-to-head with Greece and came first in the group with eight wins, one draw and one defeat due to the better goal difference and qualified directly for the finals in Brazil. The Bosnian-Herzegovinian team was essentially characterized by an effective attack and only in the first game against Greece and in the surprising home defeat against Slovakia did the team fail to score. But even against the defensive specialists from Greece, who otherwise only conceded one goal, scored three goals in the home game, so it looked like a march through until the home defeat against the Slovaks. This defeat made the qualification exciting again, as the Greeks didn't let anything go either. Only in the last game could direct qualification be secured and the team was spared the detour via the playoff games. In these qualifications for both the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 European Championship, they lost their participation in the finals against Portugal . The Greeks, who already qualified through the playoffs in 2010, again qualified this time through the playoff games against Romania.

Group stage

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10	8th	1	1	030: 600	+24	25th
2.	Greece	10	8th	1	1	012: 400	+8	25th
3.	Slovakia	10	3	4th	3	011:100	+1	13
4th	Lithuania	10	3	2	5	009:110	−2	11
5.	Latvia	10	2	2	6th	010:200	−10	08th
6th	Liechtenstein	10	0	2	8th	004:250	−21	02

Game results

date	place	Home team	-	guest	Result	Goalscorers for Bosnia and Herzegovina
07.09.2012	Vaduz ( LIE )	Liechtenstein	-	Bosnia-Herzeg.	1: 8 (0: 4)	Misimović (26th, 31st), Ibišević (33rd, 39th, 82nd), Džeko (46th, 64th, 80th)
09/11/2012	Zenica	Bosnia-Herzeg.	-	Latvia	4: 1 (2: 1)	Misimović (12th / Elf, 54th), Pjanić (44th), Džeko (90th + 2)
October 12, 2012	Piraeus ( GRC )	Greece	-	Bosnia-Herzeg.	0-0
10/16/2012	Zenica	Bosnia-Herzeg.	-	Lithuania	3: 0 (3: 0)	Ibišević (29th), Džeko (35th), Pjanić (41th)
03/22/2013	Zenica	Bosnia-Herzeg.	-	Greece	3: 1 (2: 0)	Džeko (29th, 53rd), Ibišević (36th)
06/07/2013	Riga ( LVA )	Latvia	-	Bosnia-Herzeg.	0: 5 (0: 0)	Lulić (48.), Ibišević (53.), Medunjanin (63.), Pjanić (80.), Džeko (82.)
06.09.2013	Zenica	Bosnia-Herzeg.	-	Slovakia	0: 1 (0: 0)
09/10/2013	Žilina ( SVK )	Slovakia	-	Bosnia-Herzeg.	1: 2 (1: 0)	Bičakčić (70th), Hajrović (78th)
10/11/2013	Zenica	Bosnia-Herzeg.	-	Liechtenstein	4: 1 (4: 0)	Džeko (27th, 39th), Misimović (34th), Ibišević (38th)
October 15, 2013	Kaunas ( LTU )	Lithuania	-	Bosnia-Herzeg.	0: 1 (0: 0)	Ibišević (68.)

Overall, coach Safet Sušić , who coached the team since 2009, used 24 players, of which goalkeeper Asmir Begović , captain Emir Spahić , record goal scorer Edin Džeko and Vedad Ibišević played in all games. Their first international matches came in the qualifying matches Avdija Vršajević , Ervin Zukanović , Izet Hajrović and Zoran Kvržić . The top scorers were Džeko with 10 and Ibišević with 8 goals, making them the second and third best shooters of the European teams. In the first game on September 7, 2012, Zvjezdan Misimović first set Džeko's national record by 1-0 in the 26th minute, which Džeko had taken from him on May 31, 2012 in a friendly against Mexico in Chicago , then to the record in the 31st minute with the 2-0 increase to 22 goals. With his goals in the 61st, 81st and 83rd minutes, Džeko then increased the record to 24 goals and expanded it to 33 goals in the course of qualifying and intermediate friendly matches. Misimović was able to equalize again in the meantime, but in the same game Džeko increased the record to 25 goals. Misimović only scored his 25th goal and so far the last international goal on October 11, 2013, when Džeko had already scored 32 goals.

preparation

Test matches

• March 5 in Innsbruck for the first time against Egypt : 0-2
• May 30th in St. Louis against Ivory Coast : 2-1, goalscorer for Bosnia and Herzegovina: Džeko (17th and 53rd)
• June 3 in Chicago against Mexico : 1-0, goalscorer: Hajrović (40.)

From May 27th to June 10th, Bosnia and Herzegovina took part in a tournament organized by the MLS in the USA, in which World Cup participants Nigeria, Ivory Coast, world champions Spain, Greece and Honduras as well as Bolivia and El Salvador also took part.

Squad

The line-up of the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina is shown below.

No.	player	Club 1	International matches 2	Länderspiel- gates 2	Date of birth	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Asmir Begović	Stoke City	30th	00	June 20, 1987	3	0	0	0	0
12	Jasmin Fejzić	VfR Aalen *	00	00	May 15, 1986	0	0	0	0	0
22nd	Asmir Avdukic	FK Borac Banja Luka	03	00	May 13, 1981	0	0	0	0	0
Defense
2	Avdija Vršajević	HNK Hajduk Split	13	00	06th Mar 1986	1	1	0	0	0
3	Ermin Bičakčić	Eintracht Braunschweig A	07th	01	Jan. 24, 1990	1	0	0	0	0
4th	Emir Spahic	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	74	03	Aug 18, 1980	3	0	1	0	0
5	Sead Kolašinac	FC Schalke 04	04th	00	June 20, 1993	2	0	0	0	0
6th	Ognjen Vranješ	Elazigspor A	13	00	Oct. 24, 1989	1	0	0	0	0
7th	Muhamed Besic	Ferencváros Budapest	09	00	Sep 10 1992	3	0	1	0	0
13	Scale mujdža	Sc freiburg	24	00	28 Mar 1984	2	0	0	0	0
15th	Toni Šunjić	Zorya Luhansk	07th	00	Dec 15, 1988	2	0	0	0	0
midfield
8th	Miralem Pjanic	AS Roma	48	08th	0Apr 2, 1990	3	1	0	0	0
10	Zvjezdan Misimović	Guizhou Renhe FC	81	25th	05th June 1982	2	0	0	0	0
14th	Tino-Sven Sušić	HNK Hajduk Split	02	00	Feb 13, 1992	2	0	0	0	0
16	Senad Lulić	Lazio Rome	33	01	Jan. 18, 1986	2	0	0	0	0
17th	Senijad Ibričić	Kayseri Erciyesspor	44	04th	26 Sep 1985	0	0	0	0	0
18th	Haris Medunjanin	Gaziantepspor	35	05	0March 8 1985	2	0	1	0	0
19th	Edin Višća	Istanbul BB M2	10	00	Feb. 17, 1990	2	0	0	0	0
20th	Izet Hajrovic	Galatasaray SK P	08th	02	0Aug 4, 1991	2	0	0	0	0
21st	Anel Hadžić	SK Sturm Graz	02	00	Aug 16, 1989	1	0	0	0	0
23	Sejad Salihović	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	42	04th	0Oct 8, 1984	2	0	0	0	0
attack
9	Vedad Ibišević	VfB Stuttgart	55	20th	0Aug 6, 1984	3	1	0	0	0
11	Edin Džeko	Manchester City M	62	35	17th Mar 1986	3	1	0	0	0
Coaching staff
	Safet Sušić	Trainer	54 3	21 3	April 13, 1955
	Borče Srdojević	Assistant coach			February 1, 1958
	Elvir Baljić	Assistant coach	38 4	14 4	July 8, 1974
	Tomislav Piplica	Goalkeeping coach	09 4	00	April 5th 1969

¹ M - The club was champion in the 2013/14 season, M2 - The club was champion of the second-highest league in the 2013/14 season and was promoted to the highest league, P - The club was cup winner in the 2013/14 season, A - The club was relegated from the highest league in the country, * - The club plays in the second highest league in the country.

² only the games and goals that were played or scored before the start of the World Cup are given

³ As a player for Yugoslavia, including 8 World Cup games in 1982 and 1990

^4th As a player

Finals

Group stage

Salvador Rio de Janeiro Cuiabá Guarujá

Venues (red) and quarters (blue)

At the draw for the final round on December 6, 2013, Bosnia and Herzegovina was drawn into Group F with Argentina, Iran and Africa champions Nigeria. There had previously been two friendlies against Argentina, the last one was lost 2-0 a few days before the draw on November 18, 2013. The 0: 5 in the first game against Argentina on May 14, 1998 is the biggest defeat in their own international history. Bosnia and Herzegovina have faced Iran five times in friendly matches, the last time on August 12, 2009. Four games were lost and one game ended in a draw. This makes Iran the most common non-European opponent of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They have never played against Nigeria before. Before the World Cup, the team had only played in Brazil on December 18, 1996 : in Manaus , a friendly game against Brazil was lost 1-0.

The team's quarters were the Casa Grande Hotel Resort & SPA in Guarujá .

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Argentina	6: 3	9
2	Nigeria	3: 3	4th
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	4: 4	3
4th	Iran	1: 4	1

• Sun., June 15, 2014, 7:00 p.m. (12:00 p.m. CEST) in Rio de Janeiro Argentina - Bosnia and Herzegovina 2: 1 (1: 0)
  
• Sat., June 21, 2014, 6:00 p.m. (12:00 p.m. CEST) in Cuiabá Nigeria - Bosnia and Herzegovina 1: 0 (1: 0)
  
• Wed., June 25, 2014, 1:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. CEST) in Salvador da Bahia Bosnia and Herzegovina - Iran 3: 1 (1: 0)
  

After two defeats in the first two games, Bosnia and Herzegovina had no chance of reaching the round of 16. The final 3-1 win against Iran was Bosnia and Herzegovina's first World Cup victory and the first ever victory against Iran.

Sports impact

Despite being eliminated in the preliminary round, the team was able to improve by two places to 19th place in the FIFA world rankings .

Web links

• All qualifying matches of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• All matches of the preliminary round at a glance

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "World Champion Spain at a preparatory tournament in the USA"
2. ↑ mlssoccer.com: "World Cup: Major League Soccer to organize Road to Brazil series of international tune-up matches"
3. ↑ http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/02/33/99/65/fifaworldcup2014-releaselist_neutral.pdf
4. ↑ fifa.com: team quarters