Bosnia and Herzegovina finished third in Group B and qualified for the round of 16 of the World Cup, after a 3-1 victory this Wednesday (24), in Seattle, over Qatar, who were eliminated, at the bottom of the group.
In this way, Bosnia achieved its best result so far in the World Cup, after surprising by eliminating Italy in the European play-offs, held in March.
Scotland’s 3-0 defeat to Brazil hours later confirmed that the third-placed teams in groups C, D, I and J cannot overtake the Balkan team.
Bosnia and Qatar entered the field under pressure, with just one point each. However, the Europeans managed to win with goals from Kerim Alajbegoci (29′), an own goal from Mahmud Abunada (34′) and one from Ermin Mahmic (80′), while Hasan Al Haydos scored for Qatar in the 42nd minute.
Bosnia finished third in Group B with 4 points, tied with Canada, but the hosts advanced in second place thanks to a superior goal difference (+5 against -1), despite losing 2-1 this Wednesday to Switzerland, who qualified as group leader, with 7 points, while Qatar finished last, with just 1 point.
The classification is a historic feat for Bosnia, as the only time it previously competed in a World Cup as an independent state, in Brazil in 2014, it ended up being eliminated in the group stage.
On that occasion, the team won the third and final game of the group stage against Iran 3-1, but it was not enough to guarantee a place in the first two places in the group, the only ones that allowed access to the knockout stage.
Qatar, under the command of Spanish coach Julen Lopetegui, was unable to avoid another elimination in the group stage of a World Cup, as four years ago, when they lost their three matches as hosts, in their only previous participation in the competition.
This time, the Qatari team at least managed to score their first point in the tournament, in a draw at the end of the first round game against Switzerland.
