Serbia and Montenegro have booked their place at FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 following a 1-0 victory in Belgrade against arch local rivals Bosnia-Herzegovina. The victory left the Serbs top of European qualifying Group 7, and Spain facing the lottery of a play-off despite their 6-0 win over no-hopers San Marino.

Ex-Chelsea star Mateja Kezman scored the only game of the game after seven minutes, poking home a smart knockdown from his strike partner Nikola Zigic. They went on to dominate a charged encounter and could have extended their lead from a variety of chances.

Bosnia-Herzegovina had qualification ambitions of their own, but aside from a powerful long range drive from Vedin Music, brilliantly saved by Dragoslav Jevric in the Serbian goal, they never really showed the attacking prowess required to pull off an unlikely result.

The expected turkey shoot in Serravalle, San Marino, where Spain were facing the perennial whipping boys of European football, began within a minute of kickoff when Antonio Lopez scored the opener for the Spaniards.

Their inspiration again came from Atletico Madrid’s Fernando Torres, who scored a perfunctory hat trick. Lopez netted his second after the restart and defender Sergio Ramos scored the other goal.

In the end though, it was not enough. Points carelessly dropped in earlier rounds came back to haunt them. Consequently, they find themselves having to confront the perils of the play-offs and the potential of missing their first World Cup Finals since 1974.

Serbia and Montenegro meanwhile, are on their way to their second finals. Having competed in France 98, they were unlucky to make the cut in 2002, but can now look forward to strutting their stuff on the biggest stage.

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