Reyes admits Spain pain

Arsenal's Jose Antonio Reyes has expressed his dismay following Spain's failure to gain automatic qualification for the 2006 World Cup finals.

Although Luis Aragones's men slammed six goals past San Marino without reply, it was not enough to take the Spaniards through as Serbia & Montenegro topped the table after beating Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0.

"We are a bit sad that we are not going through directly," he confessed. "We are not going to get the hardest teams in the play-off, but we have to go and play it.

"It was hard because we knew we had to score five goals and then wait to see what happened. We didn't know much about what was happening in Belgrade. We asked loads but nobody would tell us what was going on."

Spain will now figure in Friday's play-off draw alongside Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Norway. The two-legged ties are scheduled to take place on November 12 and 16.