Bosnia and Herzegovina shut the door on nine-man Belarus's UEFA EURO 2012 hopes after substitute Zvjezdan Misimović's late goal inflicted a second defeat in five days on Bernd Stange's side.
Misimović's strike ensured that Bosnia and Herzegovina followed up their 2-0 victory in Minsk on Friday and left them well placed to claim at least a play-off spot in Group D. Safet Sušić's team had entered the double-header two points behind Belarus but now stand four clear, one point shy of leaders France whom they face in a decisive-looking final qualifier in Paris on 11 October, four days hosting Luxembourg.
For Belarus a campaign that began so brightly with a 1-0 win in France has fallen apart in the past week and they have now slipped to fourth in the standings below Romania as well. They lost Timofei Kalachev to a second yellow card after 34 minutes in Zenica and then lost another man with five minutes remaining when Aleksandr Martynovich collected the second of his two yellow cards. Two minutes later home captain Edin Džeko teed up Misimović to fire home from 18 metres and seal Belarus's fate.
Both players had earlier missed good opportunities, Džeko missing the target after 16 minutes before Misimović skimmed the woodwork in the second half after a fine piece of individual play. Eventually, Bosnia and Herzegovina made their supremacy tell and the consequence for Belarus is that they will visit Romania on 7 October with only pride to play for.
No comments:
Post a Comment