- Home >
- Football >
- CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers >
- Belgium dents Bosnia-Herzegovina's World Cup dream
Belgium dents Bosnia-Herzegovina's World Cup dream
Bosnia-Herzegovina's FIFA World Cup hopes suffered a huge setback thanks to Belgium's scintillating 4-3 win in Sarajevo.
FIFA World Cup qualifier: Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-4 Belgium
Belgium dealt a major blow to Bosnia-Herzegovina's hopes of securing a FIFA World Cup qualifying play-off berth with a scintillating 4-3 win in a sodden Sarajevo.
Bosnia-Herzegovina came into the clash knowing a win coupled with a Greece defeat against Cyprus would assure it of second place, although that would not yet be enough to guarantee one of the best runner-up spots.
But ahead of Wednesday's (AEST) trip to Estonia, this defeat left Mecha Bazdarevic's side just one point clear of Greece, which hosts whipping boy Gibraltar on the final matchday.
It was a desperate start for Bosnia-Herzegovina, falling behind to Thomas Meunier's fourth-minute goal, but after Marouane Fellaini departed with what appeared to be a left knee injury, Bosnia-Herzegovina equalised almost immediately as Haris Medunjanin had the simplest of tasks to tap home.
A dreadful error from Jan Vertonghen, who equalled Jan Ceulemans's record of 96 Belgium caps, let in Edin Visca as Bosnia forged ahead before the break, but Roberto Martinez's men improved after the restart and levelled through Michy Batshuayi.
Vertonghen did atone for that mistake with a simple back-post finish midway through the second half, and the drama was far from over.
Dario Dumic thumped in a header from a corner with eight minutes to play but within two minutes Belgium struck the decisive blow, Yannick Carrasco slotting home at the near post to maintain his side's 100 per cent record in Group H and break Bosnia-Herzegovina hearts.