Advertisement

Bosnia and Belgium share spoils in 1-1 draw

Bosnia's Edin Dzeko (L) and Miralem Pijanic (R) fight for the ball with Belgium's Nicolas Lombaerts (2nd L) and Radja Nainggolan during their Euro 2016 qualifying soccer match in Zenica, October 13, 2014. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

ZENICA (Reuters) - Bosnia and Belgium drew 1-1 in an entertaining Euro 2016 Group B qualifier after midfielder Radja Nainggolan cancelled out Edin Dzeko’s first-half opener for the Balkan nation on Monday.

A clinical strike by the lively Dzeko gave Bosnia the lead against the run of play before Nainggolan equalised thanks to a blunder by keeper Asmir Begovic, who had kept his team afloat in the first half.

The result left the Belgians on four points from two games after their opening 6-0 home rout of Andorra while Bosnia have two points from three matches following a 2-1 home defeat by Cyprus and a 0-0 draw at Wales.

The Welsh top the group with seven points from three games after a 2-1 home win over Cyprus.

Although the outcome in Zenica piled more pressure on the Bosnians, coach Safet Susic remained upbeat about his team's chances of reaching a second successive tournament as an independent nation following an early World Cup exit.

"The battle for Euro 2016 berths will in all likelihood go down to the wire in our group and I am sure we will be in contention until the very end," Susic told BHT television.

"The Belgians have acquired the kind of confidence you are accustomed to seeing from the likes of Germany and are hence so difficult to play against."

His counterpart Marc Wilmots said: "We stayed calm. We knew chances would come our way and finally we equalised."

Begovic produced a string of superb saves either side of Dzeko’s 28th minute opener, when the Manchester City striker buried his shot past Thibaut Courtois after Miralem Pjanic squared a perfect cutback into his path.

But the Stoke City keeper committed a calamitous error shortly after the break, allowing a tame Nainggolan shot from 20 metres to trickle into the back of the net under his body.

The Bosnians then gained the upper hand and twice came close when Vincent Kompany cleared Pjanic’s shot off the line and Courtois kept out a Dzeko header with an acrobatic save.

Both teams threw men forward in search of a late winner but were unable to carve out more clear-cut chances on a bumpy pitch in a jam-packed Bilino Polje stadium.

Kompany rued Belgium's missed chances but also acknowledged it was a creditable result from a tough outing.

"We knew that Bosnia had to come out after their first two matches and it was a decent result for us," he said.

"In another match we would have scored three or four but that wasn't the case today."

His Manchester City team mate Dzeko also had mixed feelings about the outcome.

"It was a very open match with plenty of chances at both ends and we have to be content with a point although we are disappointed to have conceded a soft goal.

"It will be a tough campaign as we rightly predicted that Wales would be in contention for an automatic berth but I think we have it in us to do the job."

(Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic in Belgrade, additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels, editing by)