Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez said his players should celebrate their World Cup journey and hold ​their heads up high despite exiting the tournament ‌with their defeat by the United States on Wednesday.

Bosnia and Herzegovina lost 2-0 to the co-hosts in the round of 32 in the ​San Francisco Bay Area in their first-ever World ​Cup knockout-round appearance.

Bosnia drew with co-hosts Canada, beat ⁠Qatar and lost to Switzerland in the group stage ​after reaching the 48-team World Cup via playoffs, denying ​former champions Italy a spot.

“I was really proud of them,” Barbarez said of his team.

“This is the result that we should celebrate; we shouldn’t be sad, because this is part of ​life, part of football, especially in a big competition like this.”

The ‌game ⁠with the United States was challenging, he said, and his team made costly mistakes, failed to create chances or make use of the ball.

Barbarez said he was looking ​forward to ​the team returning ⁠home to meet the people, adding: “Video messages are nice and great, phone calls are ​great, but being among people, only then ​will ⁠we understand how good this is, how big this is.”

“Although we were down two goals, my heart was really full ⁠when I ​was watching them,” he said.

“This ​is really a beautiful thing, and I’m the proudest coach in the ​world right now.”