Neues » left on its trip out West

SALVADOR, Brazil -- Bosnia-Herzegovina ended Irans hopes of advancing to the knockout stages with a 3-1 victory in Group F on Wednesday, registering its first World Cup win in the process. The Bosnians, who were already relegated from the tournament, took a commanding 2-0 lead with goals from Edin Dzeko in the 23rd and Miralem Pjanic in the 53rd before Iran hit back in a desperate late bid to qualify for the second round. Reza Ghoochannejhad gave some hope to the Iranians with a tap-in goal in the 81st, but Avdija Vrsaljevic replied immediately with his low shot from the edge of the area to restore the two-goal lead. Iran needed a win to have any chance of advancing. "Sorry to our opponents, but this was also an important win for us so we could hold our heads up high leaving this tournament," Bosnia-Herzegovina coach Safet Susic said. "Throughout the match we were those who wanted to win more." The Bosnians were already out of contention at their first World Cup following consecutive losses to Argentina and Nigeria. Iran coach Carlos Queiroz brought in strikers Khosro Heydari and Karim Ansari Fard in the second half but the shift in system only netted one goal. Playing at its fourth World Cup, the Iran squad faced criticism for its dour defensive tactics after a 0-0 draw against Nigeria. The Iranians also spent much of their game against Argentina packing the defence, but created several chances on counterattacks and nearly caused a major upset before conceding a late winner by Lionel Messi. "I was a bit surprised by Iran, they needed a win and they were calculating," Susic said. "That backfired for them. Maybe they could not change their habits." Queiroz said he could not change the defensive style with the players he had available. "Susic has his opinion," Queiroz said. "The next time I will give him the opportunity to train Iran and Ill train Bosnia, and we will see." "He has players who play in Roma and Manchester City, and whom do I have?" he asked, referring to Pjanic and Dzeko and Iranian players who mostly play in Iranian and smaller European clubs. "You squeeze an orange and then you see that you have players who cannot be squeezed no more," he said. "We played to the limits of our mental and physical capacities, and Im very proud of my players," Queiroz said. Bosnia created most of the chances in the match, with Dzeko -- criticized for missing several opportunities during Bosnias earlier two matches -- firing a volley over the bar in the third minute, and then heading straight at the Iran goalkeeper from close range. He opened the scoring in the 23rd with a low shot from 20 yards (meters) that deflected in off the post. Pjanic doubled the lead a half hour later with an angled shot from inside the box. Irans only genuine chances came after its only goal of the tournament came in the last frantic minutes, with Ghoochannejhads close-range shot narrowly missing late. Queiroz said he believes that Bosnia was the best team in the group. "The best team of the group did not qualify, with all my respects to Argentina and Nigeria," he said. "Today, they played on another level." Asmir Begovic, who made 11 appearances for Canadas under-20 team, started in goal for Bosnia. "So happy to finished off our World Cup with a win!" Begovic tweeted sfter the match. "Congratulations to everybody on out 1st ever win at the World Cup! Thanks for the support." ------ Lineups: Bosnia-Herzegovina: Asmir Begovic; Toni Sunjic, Emir Spahic, Sead Kolasinac; Avdija Vrsajevic, Anel Hadzic (Ognjen Vranjes, 61st), Miralem Pjanic, Muhamed Besic, Tino-Sven Susic (Sejad Salihovic, 79th); Edin Dzeko (Edin Visca, 84th), Vedad Ibisevic. Iran: Alireza Haghighi; Pejman Montazeri, Jalal Hosseini, Amir Hossein Sadeghi, Mehrdad Pooladi; Andranik Timotian, Javad Nekounam, Ehsan Haji Safi (Alireza Jahanbakhsh, 63rd); Masoud Shojaei (Khosro Heydari, 46th), Ashkan Dejagah (Karim Ansarifard, 68th), Reza Ghoochannejhad. Carlos Lee Jersey . Lack replaced an injured Roberto Luongo late in the first period then watched defenceman Chris Tanev score the winning goal midway through the third as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Jets 2-1 in a tight NHL game. Jose Cruz Jr. Jersey . - Young and old. http://www.baseballastrosproshop.com/lan...-astros-jersey/. Former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds made his longshot request of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit upheld Bonds conviction in September. Justin Verlander Jersey . -- Jerome Williams glanced at Philadelphias schedule and realized he would be facing the Oakland Athletics yet again, with another new team. Custom Houston Astros Jerseys . In the opening game of his fourth-round match at the U.S. Open, the owner of 17 major titles got passed at the net twice, sailed a backhand long, then missed two forehands to get broken. PHOENIX -- Bronson Arroyo got the best of Stephen Strasburg -- on the mound and at the plate. Arroyo, with a fastball that barely reaches 88 mph, scattered seven hits in his 16th career complete game, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 3-1 victory over the Washington Nationals Tuesday night. "Thats the great thing about baseball," Arroyo said. "I dont really have to beat Stephen, I just have to beat their batters for the most part." He also had a pair of hits off Strasburg, scoring the go-ahead run after the second one. "I just try to outthink him and try to guess what hes throwing," Arroyo said. "... I got lucky today. I hit two balls soft, but one of them turned out to be a huge hit and started off an inning that won us the ball game." Arroyo, a free agent signing in the off-season who was slowed by a sore back in spring training, struck out seven and walked one. Of his 110 pitches, 79 were strikes. "An incredible strike ratio," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. "He kept them off-balance, threw a great game for us. Beyond that, got a couple of hits, ran the bases well again, fielded a good safety squeeze bunt, held the guy at first, got out of that inning. I mean, thats complete." Paul Goldschmidt doubled twice, the second one driving in the go-ahead runs in the fifth. Over his last three starts, Arroyo (4-2) has allowed one earned run in 23 1-3 innings. He also became the second pitcher to get two hits off Strasburg. The other was Tim Hudson. Strasburg (3-3) went seven innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, striking out six with no walks. "Overall I thought he itched fine," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "Bronson was better tonight though. All over the zone with all the pitches that he had, he kept everybody off balance." The Diamondbacks won for just the fourth time in 17 games at Chase Field this season. "You just want to get it done at home to show theres not somee sort of jinx going on," Arroyo said.dddddddddddd Washington scored first when Wilson Ramos led off the second with a single and Ian Desmond tripled. Desmond was stranded when Danny Espinosa struck out, Tyler Moore walked and Kevin Frandsen grounded into a double play. Arizona tied it at 1 in the fourth. Goldschmidt led off with a double down the right-field line, then scored when Miguel Montero singled sharply. In the fifth, Arroyo led off with his second single of the night. Martin Prado -- 4 for 20 in his career against Strasburg to that point -- singled up the middle to put runners on first and second, and Goldschmidt drove in both runners with a soaring double to deep centre. It was the major league-leading 55th hit for Goldschmidt. "Curveball," Strasburg said. "It started getting a little windy and dry and spun out of my hands. As soon as it came out of my hand I knew it was probably not going to be good." Washington -- without top hitters Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche -- didnt threaten again until the eighth. Pinch-hitter Nate McLouth singled past the first baseman Goldschmidt, a play that could have been ruled an error, then Anthony Rendons two-out single put runners at first and second. Jayson Werth flied out to left to end the inning. After getting game-tying and winning ninth-inning homers off Addison Reed in the ninth in their 6-5 win in the series opener Monday night, the Nationals didnt get a runner on base in the final inning against Arroyo. NOTES: Washington is 1-4 with one game left on its trip out West. ... Arizonas other home wins were April 1 over San Francisco, April 25 over Philadelphia and April 30 over Colorado. ... In the series finale on Wednesday, Washington starts Doug Fister (0-1, 10.38) against Brandon McCarthy (1-6, 5.66). ... If Arizona wins Wednesday, it would be the first series victory for the Diamondbacks at home this season. ' ' '