World Cup / Group Seven / Serbia and Montenegro 1 Bosnia-Herzegovina 0: Serbia and Montenegro edged bitter Balkan rivals Bosnia-Herzegovina with a seventh-minute goal from striker Mateja Kezman last night to qualify for next year's World Cup finals in Germany.
Victory left Serbia top of the group ahead of Spain, whose 6-0 win over San Marino was good enough only for a place in the play-offs.
Lingering hostility from the ethnic war between Serbs and Muslims in the early 1990s raised its head but strong security measures were in place and both sides went out of their way to play down the political aspects of their match in the Serbian capital, their second encounter after a fractious 0-0 draw in Sarajevo a year ago.
The match was played in a charged atmosphere as the raucous 50,000 home crowd and a tiny contingent of Bosnian fans sporadically pelted each other with flares and plastic seats, forcing police to move in and create large buffer zones between them.
The home side dominated throughout and might have scored more goals after Kezman poked in the winner from point-blank range after his strike partner Nikola Zigic headed a perfect Ognjen Koroman cross into his path.
Full back Mladen Krstajic saw his header deflected just wide for a corner midway through the first half and then shaved the post with a crisp low shot after a well worked free kick several minutes later.
The visitors, who needed a win to have a chance of progress, rarely came forward but almost snatched an equaliser on the hour when Serbia's goalkeeper Dragoslav Jevric produced a superb save to tip over Vedin Music's rasping shot from 30 metres.
As expected Spain had little trouble against San Marino, who have never won a World Cup qualifier, taking the lead after just 53 seconds through Antonio Lopez.
Goals from Torres and defender Sergio Ramos made it 3-0 at half-time and in the second half Ramos struck again and Torres claimed two more, one from the penalty spot, as Spain made sure of a comfortable victory.
Those results mean Serbia and Montenegro finish the group two points ahead of Spain on 22 with Bosnia-Herzegovina on 16 points.
The only other game in the group last night was a 1-1 draw between Lithuania and Belgium in Vilnius, neither side had any chance of qualifying going into yesterday's games.
SERBIA & MONTENEGRO: Jevric, Vidic, Krstajic, Duljaj, Gavrancic, Koroman, Djordjevic, Nadj (Ilic 74), Vukic (Mladenovic 67), Zigic, Kezman (Lukovic 88). Subs Not Used: Kovacevic, Basta, Milosevic, Ljuboja. Sent Off: Vidic (85). Booked: Koroman, Vukic, Vidic. Goal: Kezman 5.
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: Hasagic, Berberovic, Music (Beslija 66), Spahic, Bajramovic, Milenkovic, Bolic (Misimovic 71), Grlic (Bartolovic 46), Barbarez, Salihamidzic, Sergej Jakirovic. Subs Not Used: Tolja, Nadarevic, Grujic, Biscevic. Booked: Milenkovic, Hasagic.
Referee: Kyros Vassaras (Salonika).
