"Taka" and "Mehdi" at the World Cup!

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.