Queiroz has no compliments

AFC – SALVADOR, Iran head coach Carlos Queiroz had no qualms about admitting that the better side won on the day as Bosnia-Herzegovina ended Team Melli’s slim chances of progression to the knockout phase with a 3-1 win at the Arena Fonte Nova on Wednesday.

Needing to win in Salvador and hope that Argentina defeated African champions in the other Group F fixture kicking-off simultaneously in Porto Alegre, Iran’s situation took a turn for the worse as Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko and AS Roma’s Miralem Pjanic scored inside the first hour of the game to effectively see off the Iranians, who needed to pick up their World Cup victory since 1998 to have any hope of advancing to the knockout phase.

Reza Ghoochannejad struck eight minutes from time to ensure Iran did not leave Brazil as the only team in the tournament not to score, but within seconds the Bosnians restored their two-goal advantage when Avdija Vrsajevic’s shot went in off the post.

I have to congratulate Bosnia and Herzegovina, they deserved to win today and, without disrespect to Argentina or Nigeria, I believe that they should have qualified from this group,” the former Portugal manager told FIFA.com

“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, 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.”