Edin Dzeko hit out at New Zealand referee Peter O’Leary following Bosnia-Herzegovina’s 1-0 defeat to Nigeria in Cuiaba on Saturday. The loss, Bosnia’s second of thetournament, eliminated the World Cup debutant from progressing to the second round. Dzeko & Co. were upset first by an erroneous offside call after Dzeko thought he had put the Balkans in front,and later by what appeared to be a foul on captain Emir Spahic as Nigeria’s Emmanuel Emenike raced passed him to set up Peter Odemwingie for the only goal of the game.
“The referee was shameful,” the Manchester City striker said. “We are going home and we are sad because of that but this referee should be going home too. He changed the resultand he changed the game. That’s why we lost.” Regarding Odemwingie’s goal, the big striker said, “It was obviously a foul on our captain.” He added: “And beforewhen I scored the goal, it was never offside. We fought till the end but we didn’t have luck today.”