World Cup qualifiers: Westermann shines, but Croatia crash in England
10.09.2009
Wednesday's round of World Cup qualifiers has left some Schalke players biting their nails as the teams focus their attention on South Africa 2010. 
Germany did what they had to do, beating Azerbaijan 4-0 in Hannover. Heiko Westermann featured throughout, but Manuel Neuer was not used. The Schalke captain gave a good performance alongside Werder Bremen's Per Mertesacker in central defence to put himself in contention for the top-of-the-table clash with Russia in Moscow on 10 October. Jogi Löw's team retained their one-point lead over the Russians, who won 3-1 in Wales, at the top of Group Four.
Slovakia took a giant step towards the World Cup finals with a 2-0 defeat of Northern Ireland in Belfast. Schalke new boy Lubos Hanzel did not feature. Slovakia now need just two points from their final two games to book their place in South Africa.
Turkey's chances of qualifying took a blow, however, after a 1-1 draw in Zenica saw them fail to close the gap on Bosnia-Herzegovina. With two games left, Turkey remain four points behind the second-placed Bosnians. Halil Altintop spent the entire game on the bench. At the top of Group Five Spain qualified for the finals with a 3-0 win over Estonia.
Ivan Rakitic is another player at risk of missing out on the play-offs and thus a chance of playing at the World Cup. Croatia were thumped 5-1 at Wembley by England, who secured qualification with their eighth win in eight games. The Schalke midfielder came on as a substitute at the start of the second half, and though he showed some decent touches he was unable to do anything about the defeat. With one more fixture to play Croatia hold a two point lead over Ukraine, but the Ukrainians have a game in hand.
