Bosnia beat Qatar, likely to face U.S. in knockouts

SEATTLE -- Bosnia-Herzegovina eliminated Qatar and boosted their chances of advancing at the World Cup with a 3-1 victory in a Group B match on Wednesday. With the victory, third-place Bosnia-Herzegovina are more than likely to advance to the round of 32 in the expanded field -- and their likely opponent would be one of the tournaments co-hosts in the United States. The eight best third-place finishers across the 12 groups advance.

Should Bosnia-Herzegovina advance to the knockout round, it would mark the first time in their national team history after only playing in one other World Cup in 2014 in Brazil. "I wouldn't like to speculate quite yet [on potentially facing the U.S.]," Bosnia-Herzegovina coach Sergej Barbarez told reporters after. "I think it's best to wait for all the matches to be over and then we know if we are going further and who we'll play against.

"All I can tell you is that all of this is a bonus for us. We will be extremely relieved and we will try to take on any team that comes our way. We will try to create problems and of course win the game.

That's our goal. "I think we are confident enough to do that and to face anyone and I'm really looking forward to every single game here and I'm really happy to be here for an additional seven days in the USA and we'll see what comes of it." Kerim Alajbegovic scored in the 29th minute to give Bosnia-Herzegovina, whose only other World Cup appearance came in Brazil in 2014, a lead it would never relinquish. The 18-year-old Alajbegovic became the eighth-youngest scorer in World Cup history -- and youngest-ever for his country -- when he powered a shot past Qatar goalkeeper Mahmud Abunada at the near post from 20 yards away.

Bosnia-Herzegovina tacked on a second goal in the 34th minute when Sead Kolasinac launched a cross to the back post. A volley to the middle by Edin Dzeko deflected off Qatar's Sultan Al-Brake for an own goal. Hassan Al Haydos kept Qatar, who did not win a game in the tournament, competitive with a goal in the 42nd minute.

But in the second half, Bosnia-Herzegovina once again went up by two goals when Ermin Mahmic, who scored in a 4-1 loss to Switzerland, tallied another in the 80th minute. Earlier on Wednesday, Qatar's Assim Madibo was given a five-match ban on for the tackle that broke the leg of Canada midfielder Ismaël Koné in their matchup on June 18. Canada lost to Switzerland in the other Group A matchup Wednesday, meaning the co-hosts finish second in the standings and will have to travel to the U.S.

for their round of 32 game. Information from The Associated Press was used in this recap.