Spain forced into playoffs despite 6-0 win
Spain must play-off for a place in the World Cup finals despite beating San Marino 6-0 in their final Group Seven match on Wednesday with a hat-trick from Fernando Torres.
Spain must play-off for a place in the World Cup finals despite beating San Marino 6-0 in their final Group Seven match on Wednesday with a hat-trick from Fernando Torres.
Serbia and Montenegro finished top of the group with 22 points, two more than Spain, after beating Balkan rivals Bosnia & Herzegovina 1-0, leaving the Spanish facing the risk of missing out on the finals for the first time since 1974.
As expected Spain had little trouble against San Marino, who have never won a World Cup qualifier.
Now Spain coach Luis Aragones must wait nervously for the draw for November's play-offs at the end of a qualification campaign in which his side drew twice with the Serbians, were held at home by Bosnia and could only manage a goalless draw away to Lithuania.
It took just 53 seconds for Spain to find the target when left back Antonio Lopez burst down the flank and his speculative effort from wide of the penalty area beat the flapping San Marino keeper Federico Gasperoni.
San Marino, who have managed just two draws in World Cup qualifiers since they began competing in 1992, were without their only professional player, striker Andy Selva who plays in Italy's third division, but it was their defence where the lack of quality was exposed.
Simone Bacciocchi made a hash of an attempted header clear, completely missing the ball and leaving Torres clear on goal to make it 2-0 with an angled shot in the 11th minute.
The tiny two-sided Serravalle stadium, not even full to its 4,000 capacity and shrouded in mist, was an unlikely setting for a game of such importance for Spain.
But Aragones's side managed to keep focused on their task of amassing at least a five-goal victory, the tally they needed to be able to take advantage of a draw in Belgrade.
The Spaniards went 3-0 up 20 minutes later when defender Sergio Ramos poked the ball home after a scramble from a corner to claim his first goal for his country.
Despite the comfortable lead, Spain knew they needed another two goals after the break.
Ramos added his second and Spain's fourth off just three minutes after the restart when he was left unattended to power in a header from an Ivan De La Pena corner.
Poor finishing frustrated Spain for a large spell of the second half with Torres and Raul Gonzalez both wasting good opportunities but the fifth goal finally came via a Torres penalty kick after he had been brought down by Luca Nanni inside the area.
Torres then completed his hat-trick with a confident conversion of a low pass from substitute Ruben Baraja.
Spain had done all they could on the night but it was their slip-ups from earlier in the campaign that mean they now face two more games to decide whether they will travel to Germany.