Miralem Pjanic scored one and set up another as Bosnia beat Iran 3-1 for their first World Cup victory, but both teams go home.
Iran still had a chance of qualifying for the next round with a victory here, Nigeria losing to Argentina and a superior goal difference, but Bosnia had already been eliminated from their debut World Cup.
Miralem Pjanic scored one and set up another as Bosnia beat Iran 3-1 for their first World Cup victory, but both teams go home.
Iran still had a chance of qualifying for the next round with a victory here, Nigeria losing to Argentina and a superior goal difference, but Bosnia had already been eliminated from their debut World Cup.
Edin Dzeko threatened early on with a shot flashing just over the bar and he opened the scoring too. The Manchester City striker surged forward and unleashed a fierce daisy-cutter that went in off the inside of the upright.
However, Iran fought back immediately, as Masoud Shojaei’s effort thumped the crossbar and bounced back off the turf, then Reza Ghoochannej had missed the follow-up, but the offside flag spared his blushes.
Begovic had to rush off his line to block from Reza, who again had strayed offside, then Vrsajevic horribly wasted with a shot across the face of goal when teammate Ibisevic was waiting for the assist.
Bosnia did get their second of the game, as Hosseini lost the ball in midfield and Dzeko threaded through for Pjanic to finish it off.
Iran were dire in the second half, but finally threatened with Reza Ghoochannejad, who had one shot charged down and another deflected wide.
He then got Iran back into the match when a corner was not cleared, so the pass volleyed across for him to tap in from six yards.
However, less than a minute later Bosnia had restored their two-goal cushion thanks to Vrsajevic’s angled drive in off the inside of the far post.
Bosnia 3-1 Iran
Scorers: Dzeko 23 (B), Pjanic 59 (B), Ghoochannejad 82 (I), Vrsajevic 83 (B)
Bosnia: Begovic; Vrsajevic, Sunjic, Spahic, Kolasinac; Besic, Hadzic (Vranjes 61), Susic (Salihovic 79); Pjanic; Ibisevic, Dzeko (Visca 84)
Iran: Haghighi; Montazeri, J Hosseini, Sadeghi, Montazeri, Pooladi; Timotian, Nekounam; Dejagah (Ansarifard 68), Shojaei (Heydari 46), Haji Safi (Jahanbakhsh 63); Reza Ghoochannejad
Ref: Carballo (ESP)