World Cup: Cold feet freeze Bosnia's last 16 ambitions

Bosnia's maiden World Cup campaign was barely three minutes old when Sead Kolasinac's clumsy own goal - the fastest in the tournament's history - in the opening 2-1 Group F loss to Argentina set the tone for a tame early exit.

Although the Balkan nation had an Edin Dzeko goal wrongly disallowed in Saturday's (Sunday, PHL time) 1-0 defeat by Nigeria which ended their hopes or reaching the last 16, coach Safet Susic found no excuse for performances lacking the zest that got them to the finals.

"We lost to a better team whose speed and agility took us by surprise," said the 59-year old former Yugoslavia forward.

"They took the game to us, really wanted to win and deserve to be in a position to reach the knockout stages."

Having played attacking football to qualify as a surprise package, the Bosnians were a pale shadow of the side which scored 30 goals in 10 qualifiers, 18 of them by Dzeko and strike partner Vedad Ibisevic used only as a substitute in Brazil.

They looked physically unfit for the strength-sapping group stage in difficult weather and Bosnian pundits blamed Susic for their poor conditioning.

"The team's fitness level was appalling, in fact we have been the most unfit team in the tournament and that's because Susic and his staff gave the players too many days off during the build-up period," said the sports website www.sportsport.ba.

"Most of them could barely breathe in the last 30 minutes against Nigeria when they needed to press forward for an equalizer at full throttle."

Disappointing Dzeko

Bosnian fans, some of whom had spent a fortune by the country's economic standards to come to Brazil, had high hopes that Dzeko would lead the charge into the knockout rounds but the Manchester City striker failed to reproduce his club form.

Susic, who labeled Dzeko as a player who was as important to his team as "Lionel Messi is to Argentina," deprived his main attacker with any support in a cautious 4-5-1 formation.

But Dzeko's finishing was poor when chances came his way and the popular sports website turned on the 28-year old hitman.

"He is no Bosnian Messi, definitely not the pack leader who can pull the team forward and turn things around in the face of adversity," it said.

"In addition, captain Emir Spahic was a constant liability that threw the defenc\se into disarray instead of marshaling it. Not a player for big games, while Susic must ask himself why he reverted from the strategy that got us here."

With only pride to play for on Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time) in the final group match against Iran, who still have a chance of going through, the Bosnians have learned the harsh lesson that there is precious little room for error on the biggest stage. - Reuters