Bosnia suffer Slovakia setback

Bosnia's World Cup hopes suffered a setback as the Group G leaders slipped up 1-0 at home to Slovakia in Friday's qualifier in Zenica.

Leaders come unstuck on home soil

Bosnia's World Cup hopes suffered a setback as the Group G leaders slipped up 1-0 at home to Slovakia in Friday's qualifier in Zenica. Viktor Pecovsk's long-range effort settled the contest in the 77th minute as Slovakia breathed new life into their own hopes of reaching the finals in Brazil next year. Bosnia led the way by three points at the start of the night but saw their advantage wiped out by Greece - 1-0 winners over Liechtenstein - and now sit top on goal difference alone. The defeat was Bosnia's first in seven qualifiers so far, while the win sees third-placed Slovakia close to within four points of the leaders. Both sides created plenty of chances in an open contest, with Bosnia bossing their early exchanges with Zvjezdan Misimovic and Miralem Pjanic both going close inside the opening 18 minutes. Avdija Vrsajevic forced a save from Slovakia goalkeeper Jan Mucha after 24 minutes, but slowly the match came to the visitors and Asmir Begovic had to be on his toes to turn away a Juraj Kucka drive from the edge of the area just after the half-hour. With 63 minutes on the clock Begovic again had to be alert to tip away a Pecovsky effort, but the Stoke goalkeeper had no response 13 minutes from time as Slovakia took the lead. Vladimir Weiss' cross from the left was only half cleared by the home defence, and when the ball came to Pecovsky over 25 yards from goal he took aim with a low drive that just evaded Begovic's dive. Bosnia rallied to preserve their unbeaten record in what time remained, but when they did break through Edin Visca's shot was kept at bay by Mucha.