A terrible goalkeeping error from Asmir Begovic cost Bosnia and Herzegovina all three points in a 1-1 draw with Belgium. It was the favourites Belgium who got off to the best start with Steven Defour, Divock Origi and Eden Hazard all coming close, before Edin Dzeko gave Bosnia and Herzegovina the lead. It only took four minutes after the break, however, for Radja Nainggolan’s shot to be fumbled into the net by Begovic, eventually resulting in a share of the spoils.
It was Belgium who got off to the quickest start when Defour took a shot from distance which was wide of the right-hand post. Origi then showed some great creativity at the near post with an attempted back heel from the Hazard pass, but Begovic did well to handle it.
Hazard then showed some trickery on the wing to make his way into the box, but his attempted shot from the narrow angle was thwarted by Begovic. Bosnia had their first real opportunity of the match after 24 minutes when Tino-Sven Susic made some space on the edge of the box, but his curling effort was over crossbar.
Three minutes later and completely against the run of play, Bosnia took the lead with a pass found Roma’s Miralem Pjanic. He played it into the pocket of space in the area and captain Dzeko was there to curl a brilliant effort into bottom corner - his 38th goal in 68 international appearances.
Despite being behind, Belgium continued to dominate; Jan Vertonghen hit a well driven shot towards goal from a costless-kick, but Begovic again got down well to thwart the attempt. The Bosnian defence was caught napping just before the break, which allowed Romeleu Lukaku to sneak behin, but Begovic did well to come out and block the shot with his feet.
The away side continued to dominate the play after the break, when a brilliant ball from Hazard found Toby Alderweireld. He attempted to play into the area but was blocked by the Bosnian defender.
All the pressure eventually paid off in the 49th minute, when Belgium equalised. Alderweireld once again had the ball and this time he played it into the path of Nainoggolan. The Belgian's shot should have been a routine save for Begovic, but the keeper’s horrific mistake saw the effort slip through his gloves and into the corner of the net.
Bosnia began to get into the game and could have regained the lead on three occasions in the space of five minutes; the first coming from Pjanic who whipped a venomous costless-kick into a good area but nobody was there to get the final touch it required. It was Pjanic again four minutes later, but this time his effort was blocked by Vincent Kompany. The final opportunity fell to Dzeko; a ball whipped in by Mensur Mujdza which found the head of the goal-scorer, but his effort was saved by Thibaut Courtois.
Dzeko had another opportunity to pull the trigger, but Alderweireld did well to slide in to prevent the shot. Belgium faded from the game after their goal, but looked to find their second when a good dink found Kevin De Bruyne. However, once again defending triumphed when Senad Lulic did brilliantly to block the chance.
The final opportunity of the game fell to the away side, and Dries Mertens came ever so close to clinching the win. The winger attempted to curl his shot into the far corner and it managed to beat Begovic, but bounced beyond the post.
Bosnia were very much on the back foot for the majority of the first period, despite taking the lead, but managed to get a foothold in the second half and if not that goalkeeping error could of quite easily walked away with all three points. However, despite their early pressure Belgium could never really make a clinical impact on the game, and will feel that with all their chances the three points should have been theirs.