Asmir Begovic left the pitch of Haifa's Sammy Ofer Stadium on Sunday night and entered the improvised TV studio in anger. His appearance left no ambiguity as to how he felt. Gritting his teeth, clenching his fists, he was raging mad. This was supposed to be his big night, one of the most memorable in his professional career.

In the absence of Edin Džeko, Stoke City's keeper captained his country for the first time. Instead, it proved to be a disaster as the Dragons were scattered 3-0 by...

ZENICA, Bosnia and Herzegovina -- The mood inside Bilino Polje had been quite different 367 days previously. When a ball flashed past Asmir Begovic then, it was sent by Liechtenstein's Nicolas Hasler, with Bosnia and Herzegovina already four goals up and the same number of days away from a World Cup qualification that by this stage seemed driven by providence.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Belgium

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That night, no concession could abate the din, the chants, the anthems. On Monday evening, the opposite was true. While things had been...

Cynics of UEFA's decision to bolster their European Championship finals entry list to 24 teams will be offered more than a little ammunition to back up their theory that the expanded competition has diluted the pre-event qualifying campaign this week.

England's Wembley meeting with San Marino (FIFA ranking 208) at Wembley on Thursday, Holland's clash with Kazakhstan (127) a day later and the Republic of Ireland's meeting with Gibraltar (unranked by FIFA) are some of the fixtures on the horizon that...

Year after year since they gained independence from Yugoslavia and began competing with the rest of their fellow Europeans, the Bosnians had their autumn routine. Every two years, with the start of the new qualifying campaign for the next major tournament, their football team -- as well as the media, fans and basically everyone -- repeated the same words and turned them in sacred litany.

Now or never. It was always now or never. Hope bursting like a bubble and crying over their failures were...

Bosnia will leave their first World Cup at the group stages, and ESPN FC's Sasa Ibrulj looks back at their campaign.

One sentence, World Cup recap

A fairy tale that ended too early and left the country in a mixture of disappointment and pride.

All team assessments

Group Stage: Australia | Bosnia-Herzegovina | Cameroon | Croatia | Ecuador | England | Ghana | Honduras | Italy | Iran
Ivory Coast | Japan | Portugal | Russia | South Korea | Spain
Round of 16: Algeria | Chile | Greece | Mexico
Nigeria | Switzerland | Uruguay | United States
Quarterfinals: Colombia | France | Belgium | Costa Rica
Semifinals: Brazil | Netherlands
Finalists: Argentina
Winners: Germany

Star Man

Through the last couple of years, Bosnia-Herzegovina have relied on the spine of the team that was built from captain Emir Spahic, midfielder Miralem Pjanic and the star man up front Edin Dzeko -- but only one of them delivered in this tournament...

France wins group E with a 0-0 draw against Ecuador and Switzerland advances from the group for the first time since 2006. Group F winner Argentina is joined by Nigeria in the round of 16, who advance despite losing to the Albiceleste Wednesday.

Argentina is the fifth CONMEBOL team to advance, matching 2010 as the most ever in the round of 16 for the South American federation.

Here are five notes to know coming out of Matchday 14:

Argentina advances past the group stage for the eighth time in...