(Reuters) - Having played entertaining and high-scoring soccer to qualify for its first World Cup, Bosnia reverted to an unfamiliar defensive strategy and was severely punished for not taking risks against modest opposition Saturday.

An industrious Nigeria outfit lacking the talent of previous generations was still too good for toothless Bosnia, whose nervy maiden appearance on the big stage ended in a tame exit.

Despite a lucky break after Bosnia striker Edin Dzeko's effort was wrongly flagged offside shortly before Peter Odemwingie's clinical winner, Nigeria fully deserved its 1-0 success and should have won by a bigger margin in Cuiaba.

Odemwingie's Stoke City teammate, Asmir Begovic, was in some ways Bosnia's best player in the match, and his string of superb saves underlined Nigeria's thorough domination.

The Bosnians will no doubt rue the offside call and Dzeko's last-gasp shot, which hit the keeper and deflected back off the woodwork, though there was a suspicion of a handball, but both incidents came firmly against the run of play.

When the dust settles, Bosnia coach Safet Susic will want to revisit his decision to start with a cagey 4-5-1 formation that was fragile at the back, bereft of ideas in midfield and toothless upfront.

Counterpart Stephen Keshi was rewarded for an adventurous formation, with Emmanuel Emenike ruthlessly exploiting a glaring chink in Bosnia's left flank, where wingback Senad Lulic failed to hold his own.

One such raid presented Odemwingie with a simple finish after Emenike raced past Bosnia captain Emir Spahic, too often exposed with Lulic ineffectually pressing forward, and squared the ball to the scorer.

DZEKO ISOLATED

As happened in the opening 2-1 defeat to Argentina, Susic left striker Vedad Ibisevic on the bench, and again the coach's lack of guile backfired, with the isolated Dzeko reduced to sporadic attempts.

The strategy contravened Susic's philosophy in qualifying, when Dzeko and Ibisevic formed a lethal strike partnership that racked up 18 of Bosnia's 30 goals and steered the team into the finals.

Many of Dzeko's 10 came as a result of Ibisevic's intelligent movement in the two-man frontline, carving out chances which were few and far between in a meek display against the Nigerians.

Not even the fact that Ibisevic scored a consolation shortly after coming on against Argentina could persuade Susic to hand him back his spot in the starting lineup, which looked completely at sea against Nigeria.

Starting with Haris Medunjanin in the center of a packed midfield also paid no dividends, as Nigeria's John Obi Mikel and Ogenyi Onazi made the center of the field their own.

Having realized his blunders, Bosnia's coach threw on Ibisevic for ineffectual winger Izet Hajrovic, Sejad Salihovic for the outpaced Lulic and his nephew Tino Sven Susic for Medunjanin, but the damage had already been done.

Begovic fought off one Nigeria attempt after another, some from long range and others from inside the area, before the African side's keeper, Vincent Enyeama, diverted Dzeko's shot onto the post to deny the Bosnians a lifeline equalizer.