Bosnia-Herzegovina Qualify for World Cup for 1st Time in History

Bosnia and Herzegovina clinched their first ever World Cup berth on Tuesday with a 1-0 victory over Lithuania, according to Sports Illustrated senior writer Grant Wahl on Twitter:

Vedad Ibisevic scored the match-winning goal in the 68th minute to propel the Dragons through to Brazil next summer. Despite competing since the early 1990s, Bosnia and Herzegovina have never competed at the World Cup.

That'll change in June 2014, however, thanks to a dominant performance from Safet Susic's squad over the past 13 months, which saw Bosnia and Herzegovina win eight of 10 Group G qualifying matches en route to finishing atop the group, beating out a dangerous Greece team. The Dragons only loss in Group G was a 1-0 defeat to Slovakia last month.

Given their impressive run in UEFA World Cup 2014 qualifying, Bosnia and Herzegovina must be considered a threat next summer in South America.   

While there's no doubt that they benefited from a somewhat lackluster grouping, Bosnia and Herzegovina proved on the pitch that they have the talent to compete with the world's best teams.

Led by Ibisevic and Manchester City star forward Edin Dzeko, the Group G winners scored a ridiculous 30 goals over 10 matches, and conceded just six over that time. Second-place Greece managed to net just a dozen through 10 matches.

As of mid-September, Bosnia and Herzegovina were ranked No. 18 in the world by FIFA. The new world rankings will be released later this week. 

The often overlooked Southeastern European country boasts a population of roughly 3.8 million as of 2012. 

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