Safet Susic: Bosnia squad will leave Brazil with heads held high

 
Positive: Bosnia coach Safet Susic hailed an 'important' win
GETTY
25 June 2014

Bosnia coach Safet Susic believes his side can return home from their first World Cup with some pride after beating Iran 3-1 in their final group match.

The Europeans had high hopes going into the tournament despite it being their first on the world stage but were eliminated after just two matches.

Despite some tough luck they at least finished with a win with goals from Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, Miralem Pjanic and Avdija Vrsajevic with Reza Ghoochannejhad's late consolation never enough to push Iran through to the last 16.

"We dominated the game and deserved to win," Susic told his post-match press conference.

Opener: Edin Dzeko scored Bosnia's first goal in Salvador
GETTY

"Although I know that Iran wanted to progress, the victory was important for us.

"We can now go home with our heads held high. We wanted to leave a good impression, but we're not satisfied because we think that we could have done more.

"I'm not being arrogant when I say that, but if we'd played a bit better against Nigeria and had a bit more luck, I think we would have made the round of 16.

"I was a little surprised by the way Iran played today, they can attack teams extremely well and I was expecting them to be adventurous, but I thought at times it was almost as if they would have been content to draw."

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz felt the exertions of the tournament took its toll on his side.

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"I have to congratulate Bosnia and Herzegovina, they deserved to win and, without disrespect to Argentina or Nigeria, I believe that they should have qualified from this group," he said.

"They have great players who play for great clubs - and I do believe that they are the best team of the group.

"We pushed ourselves to the limit, mentally and physically and I'm very proud of them.

"We were exhausted after the Argentina game but we fought for 90 minutes.

"Despite all our difficulties, we kept pushing and created some good chances but Bosnia and Herzegovina were better today.

"They were on another level and we are not at that level due the facilities in Iran.

"We finish our job here with no regrets, no excuses."

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