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HSV - While the opening whistles were being
blown for the World Cup qualifying games on Wednesday afternoon (08.06.05)
in Europe, champagne corks had long been popped in Japan and Iran. Both
teams had already qualified for the final round in the coming year before
the last playing day of their divisions. Thus, Naohiro Takahara and Mehdi
Mahdavikia are the first HSV players to win tickets to the World Cup in
Germany. Japan was the first to celebrate. Even without the injured Takahara
(torn muscle fiber), the eleven men under Brazilian coach Zico earned a 2-0
victory over North Korea’s best. Atsushi Yanagisawa (73) and Oguro (89)
scored the goals. Shortly thereafter, wild celebration broke out in Tehran
as well. With a newly fit Mahdavikia, the Persians defeated Bahrain 1-0 with
a goal from Mohammad Nosrati (48), thereby also qualifying for the final
round.
In Europe the decisions won’t be made until the latter half of the year.
Holland’s all-stars continue to have good chances. Even without the
yellow-blocked van der Vaart, the Dutchmen won 4-0 in Finland. Khalid
Boulahrouz was forced to watch this triumph from the bench. Since he was
injured, the Hamburg defender has no longer been on coach Marco van Basten’s
A-list. The team continues to lead division 1 with 22 points, ahead of the
Czech Republic (21 points), who won a 6-1 walkover in Macedonia. Raphael
Wicky and Switzerland did not play and had to watch the Irish re-take first
place in division 4 with a 2-0 victory over the Faroe Islands. However, the
Swiss have played one less match. In Valencia, Bosnia-Herzegovina seemed
about to pull off a miracle. After a goal by Misimovic (39), the eleven men
under Sergej Barbarez maintaned a 1-0 lead for a long time, until Marchena
tied it up for the Spaniards in the final minute. Thus, the Bosnians remain
in fifth place in division 7, which is now led by the Spaniards with13
points.
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