Bosnia Siap Bersaing Hadapi Timnas Kelas Dunia di Brazil
Bosnia are Ready to Rival World`s Top Teams in Brazil
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
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Paris (B2B) - Bosnia-Herzegovina mencapai turnamen utama pertama mereka pada Selasa (Rabu WIB), berkat kemenangan 1-0 atas Lithuania yang membuat mereka memastikan tempat di Piala Dunia tahun depan.
Mereka akan bergabung dengan Rusia, yang belum pernah mencapai putaran final Piala Dunia sejak 2002 dan mengunci tempat di Brazil 2014 berkat hasil imbang 1-1 di Azerbaijan.
Bosnia - yang kalah dua kali kalah dari Portugal pada playoff untuk Piala Dunia 2010 dan Piala Eropa 2012 - melaju dengan menyingkirkan Yunani, yang harus memainkan playoff, sedangkan Portugal menyelesaikan kualifikasi dengan menduduki peringkat kedua di bawah Rusia dan juga akan memainkan playoff.
Dua tempat otomatis zona Eropa akan ditentukan pada Selasa malam, di mana empat tim akan memperebutkannya, yakni juara bertahan Spanyol, Prancis, Inggris, dan Ukraina.
Vedad Ibisevic menjadi pahlawan Bosnia ketika ia mencetak gol terpenting dari 20 gol internasionalnya, ketika penyerang Stuttgart berusia 29 tahun itu menyumbang gol pada menit ke-68.
Sepakannya yang berbuah gol itu terjadi hanya dua menit setelah ia melihat tembakan lainnya dengan brilian digagalkan Giederius Arlauskas, yang menjinakkan peluang-peluang Bosnia sepanjang pertandingan, seperti dilansir Yahoo News.
Penampilan Arlauskas memiliki konteks di pertandingan ini, sebab hanya Jerman dan Belanda yang lebih banyak menciptakan lebih banyak gol di pertandingan-pertandingan kualifikasi dibanding Bosnia.
Sebaliknya Yunani gagal bersinar di depan gawang, dan mereka hanya mampu menang 2-0 atas Liechtenstein di Athena.
Dimitris Salpingidis mencetak gol pada menit ketujuh namun Yunani - yang hanya mencetak sepuluh gol menjelang pertandingan ini dari sembilan pertandingan kualifikasi sebelumnya - gagal memperbesar keunggulan sampai pemain veteran Giorgos Karagounis memainkan pertandingan ke-130nya untuk timnas, mencetak gol melalui tendangan bebas sembilan menit sebelum pertandingan usai.
Rusia mencetak gol cepat di Baku, melalui Roman Shikorov yang mencetak gol bagi tim tamu, dan meski pemain pengganti Azeri, Vagif Dzhavadov, mampu menyamakan kedudukan, tambahan satu angka sudah cukup bagi Rusia untuk dapat melaju.
Portugal, yang tidak diperkuat Cristiano Ronaldo yang diskors, meraih kemenangan atas Luksemburg melalui gol Silvestre Varela dan Nani yang tercipta pada babak pertama, namun mereka baru mampu melakukannya setelah Luksemburg kehilangan satu pemain karena mendapat kartu merah.
Bagaimanapun, mereka hanya mampu menambah satu gol pada babak kedua ketika penyerang veteran Helder Postiga mencetak gol 11 menit sebelum pertandingan usai.
Portugal dan Yunani akan mengetahui lawan-lawan mereka di undian playoff yang dilangsungkan pada Senin depan.
Paris - Bosnia-Herzegovina reached their first ever major finals on Tuesday as a 1-0 win over Lithuania saw them confirm their place at next year´s World Cup.
They will be joined by Russia, who had not reached a World Cup finals since 2002 and who sealed their place at Brazil 2014 with a 1-1 away draw in Azerbaijan.
Bosnia -- who had lost twice to Portugal in play-offs for the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 -- progress at the expense of Greece, who go into the play-offs, while Portugal finish runners-up to Russia and will also contest a winner takes all play-off.
The final two automatic European places will be decided later on Tuesday with four teams in the running, holders Spain, France, England and Ukraine.
Vedad Ibisevic was Bosnia´s hero as he scored what was the most important of his 20 international goals as the 29-year-old Stuttgart striker struck in the 68th minute.
His sidefooted effort came just two minutes after he had seen another shot brilliantly saved by Giederius Arlauskas, who had denied Bosnia throughout the match in a stunning performance.
Arlausakas´s performance could be put into the context that only the Germans and the Dutch have scored more goals in the qualifying games than the Bosnians.
Greece by contrast have failed to sparkle in front of goal and were only able to beat Liechtenstein 2-0 in Athens.
Dimitris Salpingidis scored in the seventh minute but the goal shy Greeks -- who had only scored 10 goals going into the match from their previous nine qualifiers -- failed to add to that until veteran Giorgos Karagounis, appearing in his 130th game for the national side, scored with a free kick nine minutes from time.
Greece coach Fernandos Santos, who was praised for guiding unfancied Greece to last year´s Euro 2012 quarter-finals, said his side were unfortunate to have to contest the play-offs with the points they had accrued.
"If you would have told me before the start of the qualifying round that with 25 points we would not have gained a direct berth to the World Cup I would not have believed it," he said.
"We have to congratulate Bosnia for their performance and finishing first."
Russia too scored early on in Baku, Roman Shirokov netting for the visitors, and although Azeri substitute Vagif Dzhavadov levelled in time added on a point was still enough for the Russians to progress.
"I´m satisfied with our performance in this qualifying campaign," said coach Fabio Capello.
"We finished in first place having such a strong opponent as Portugal in our group.
"We played well in all of the matches except the game in Northern Ireland where we produced unsatisfactory football. But in general I have positive memories from this campaign."
Portugal, who were missing the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo, got on top early at home to Luxembourg as Silvestre Varela and Nani scored in the first-half - but only after Luxembourg had had a player sent off.
However, they were only able to add one more in the second-half as veteran striker Helder Postiga scored 11 minutes from time.
Portugal and Greece will learn who their opponents are in the play-offs in the draw next Monday.
