With the stakes so high, you would be forgiven for thinking the match was going to start in a cagey fashion, but both sides started brightly and with real urgency.
It was the visitors that dealt the first blow, stunning the home crowd after 12 minutes, when Haris Tabakovic took advantage of some static Austrian defending to head the ball home from inside a congested six-yard box and give the Golden Lilies the lead.
The goal appeared to really dent Austria’s confidence and it took until the 35th minute for Ralf Rangnick’s side to register their first shot on target, as Nicolas Seiwald’s stinging 20-yard effort was parried away from danger by Nikola Vasilj.
Drama struck in the latter stages of the first half as an apparent equaliser for Austria was chalked off following VAR intervention. Konrad Laimer’s drilled shot from just outside the box went in off the post, but after the referee was instructed to check his video monitor, he adjudged that Laimer had fouled Amar MemiC in the build-up, to the hosts’ disbelief.
The second half began in frantic fashion. Less than five minutes after the restart, Austria’s Patrick Wimmer steered a close-range header narrowly wide of the target, before Tabakovic saw a golden opportunity to double Bosnia’s lead go begging, as the ball bounced off him before he could properly react just a few yards in front of goal.
With their hopes of qualifying automatically beginning to fade, Austria’s Michael Gregoritsch stepped up to take the game by the scruff of the neck. After the ball ricocheted off the bar in the 77th minute and Vasilj’s failure to properly punch the ball away, the Brondby striker was in the right place at the right time to slam the ball into the back of the net from close range to secure the vital equaliser and send the Austrian capital wild.
With the visitors throwing everything forward for a last-gasp equaliser, the hosts almost capitalised on the counter to seal qualification in style, but Gregoritsch was denied well by Vasilj.
Austria’s victory means that they finish top of Group H of the UEFA qualifying section with seven wins from their eight matches, and next year will see Das Team’s first appearance at a WC finals since 1998. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, attention now shifts to the European Play-Off draw, which takes place on Thursday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Haris Tabakovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
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