Spain have qualified for next Summers World Cup Finals in Germany despite a 1-1 draw with Slovakia in Bratislava. The ‘Furia Roja’ went into this second leg with a 5-1 advantage after Saturday’s first-leg thrashing in Madrid, which saw Liverpool’s Luis Garcia grab a hat-trick, with club team-mate Fernando Morientes and Atletico Madrid star Fernando Torres each grabbing a goal.

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The game was played in pouring rain in the Slovak Capital, Bratislava, so the play started off fairly slowly, with each team testing each other out. In the 19th minute Raul missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring for the visitors, with a one-on-one with the keeper, flashing the ball just wide.

Slovakia began to get more cohesive as the first half went on, with Slavia Prague’s Matej Kraijick playing some decent through balls for the forwards to latch on to, but the Spanish defended resolutely, and defended in numbers.

Placente almost scored for Spain in the 30th minute, with a strong shot that was blocked by the Slovak defence, and the resulting scrum still couldn’t see the ball hit the net for the visitors.

The teams went into the break 0-0 with the Spanish probably surprised at the slow pace of the game thus far, which more of an air of an International friendly, rather than a World Cup qualification decider.

The Slovakians came out for the second half with a completely different attitude, virtually laying siege to the Spanish goal for the first five minutes of the second half, and were duly awarded with a goal from half time substitute Filip Holosko, who smashed a goal past Spanish keeper Casillas to the delight of the sodden home support.

This re-awoke the Spanish, who, with the duo of Rubens Baraja and Fernando Torres were a constant threat to the Slovakian’s, but the home side continued plugging away at the Spain defence, and the substitute Holosko showing some fine determination.

The German referee was making no friends with the Slovakian players or fans, failing to notice two very good handball claims in quick succession, and waving away a penalty appeal from the home side.

Luis Aragones made two substitutions just after the hour mark, David Villa on for Fernando Torres and Fernando Morientes on for Raul, and the coach’s decision seemed to be the spot on because within ten minutes of coming on to the field, substitute David Villa put the tie out of reach for the Slovakians.

Rubens Baraja tore apart the home defence, picking up a loose ball in his own half, playing a lovely through ball through to Fernando Morientes on the left, who played the perfect ball through to the feet of David Villa, who only had the keeper to beat. 1-1 and Spain looking sure to progress to the finals.

The visitors were out to win the match though, and Michel Salgado should have doubled the lead when he found himself in acres of space at the far post, but wasted his shot. David Villa had another shot deflected for a corner in the 81st, and by this time the conditions, and the tired legs were catching up with the Slovakians as they saw their chances of qualifying slip away.

The Hosts fought hard and brave in the pouring rain, but the game ended 1-1, with Spain qualifying for the World Cup, and Slovakia, who had an extremely good qualifying campaign, rueing the missed chances, and shambolic defending of the first-leg, which is where they lost the tie.

They can feel proud though for their determination, and the quality of play that brought them this far, and we can look forward to a stronger, more determined Slovakia side in the European Championships in 2008.

Spain on the other hand can look forward to the Finals in Germany next Summer, where once again they will hope to change their fortunes in the World Cup, where they always come in as one of the favourites to win, and for some reason, always underachieve.

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