Europe
The nine group winners qualify for the finals. The eight best runners-up playoff for the other four places, the remaining runner-up will miss out altogether.
ENGLAND thrashed Croatia 5-1 at Wembley in Group Six to qualify for World Cup 2010 in South Africa with two games to spare.
Two goals each for Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, and another by Wayne Rooney gave Fabio Capello's team another emphatic win and maintained their 100% record.
England only needed a draw to qualify after Ukraine's earlier 0-0 draw with Belarus in Minsk.
But Capello's attacking intent has rarely been in doubt during this campaign and was again clear from the start. England were rampant and went 2-0 up in 17 minutes.
The victory laid to rest the failure to reach Euro 2008 under Steve McClaren when the Croats beat England 3-2 at Wembley in the final qualifier.
Having already won 4-1 in Zagreb last November, England went one better to take their goals total to 31 from eight matches - more than any other team in the world.
The result leaves Croatia scrambling for a playoff spot with Ukraine two points behind with a game in hand.
And, of course, it meant England became only the second team from Europe to qualify after the Netherlands' success in June.
The Dutch also made it eight wins out of eight in Group Nine, beating Scotland 1-0 at Hampden Park to end the Scots' hopes of a finals appearance for another four years.
In truth, Scotland hardly deserved to qualify, having failed to finish second in a mediocre group after Norway took the spot by beating Macedonia 2-1.
But even Norway look unlikely to make it into the playoffs as their 10 points will probably mean they finish with lowest total of all the runners-up.
Current European champions Spain joined Netherlands and England in winning their eighth straight qualifying and securing qualification for the finals.
The Spanish beat Belgium 5-0 on Saturday and enjoyed another comfortable Group Five win, 3-0 against Estonia to take full advantage of Bosnia's 1-1 draw with Turkey in Belgrade.
The Bosnians remain favourites to take second place - four points clear of the Turks with two matches left.
Group One was thrown wide open when front-runners Denmark were held to a surprising 1-1 draw against Albania in Tirana.
But the Danes remain favourites, three points clear of rivals Sweden after the Swedes squeezed home 1-0 against Malta, with their second late goal in a week.
Sweden had needed a stoppage-time winner to beat Hungary 2-1 on Saturday to set themselves up nicely for the tie next month in Copenhagen.
The Hungarians followed that weekend home loss up with another hugely disappointing defeat in Budapest as Portugal reignited their campaign with a 1-0 win.
But the Portuguese remain five points adrift of Denmark and will probably have to settle for the playoffs by overcoming Sweden.
In Group Two, Greece suffered an embarrassing 1-1 draw in Moldova and crucially failed to take advantage of top-placed Switzerland's 2-2 draw with Latvia.
The results mean the Swiss remain three points clear of Greece and Latvia and their next fixture, against Luxembourg at home, should put them in an even stronger position.
The Greeks and the Latvians play each other next in Athens and that result will go a long way to deciding who finishes as runners-up.
Northern Ireland's chances of qualifying for their first World Cup since 1986 suffered a tremendous blow after a 2-0 defeat against Slovakia in Belfast.
The Slovakians extended their lead at the top of Group Three to five points with Slovenia now in second place after their fine 3-0 win against Poland.
It was the Poles' second disappointing result of the week after they could only manage a 1-1 draw at home against the Irish on Saturday and their qualification hopes are slim.
Slovakia only need two more points from their last two matches to qualify but the chase for the playoff place remains tight.
Slovenia and Northern Ireland are both on 14 points but the Irish have only one match left.
After their 7-0 thumping of whipping-boys San Marino, the Czech Republic are on 12 points and outsiders Poland are on 11 points. Both have two matches left.
Group Four is all about two countries - Germany and Russia after both countries moved well clear of their rivals in the latest round of matches.
Germany, who beat Azerbaijan 4-0, will take a one-point advantage to Moscow next month for an almighty clash and the Russians will be hoping home advantage counts.
Russia followed up their weekend 3-0 home win against Liechtenstein with a 3-1 away win against Wales in front of a sub-12,000 crowd at the Millennium Stadium.
France look in severe danger of missing out on top spot after Serbia secured a 1-1 draw with Les Bleus in Belgrade.
The result means Serbia remain four points clear of the French in Group Seven with two matches left, though France are four points clear of third-placed Austria and should still make it into the playoffs.
Lithuania, in fourth, started this campaign well with three wins out of four but four straight losses, including a terrible 2-1 defeat to the Faroe Isles, have all but killed off any playoff hopes.
Romania, with just two wins from their eight matches, have never looked in it.
World champions Italy will qualify next month with a win in either of their last two Group Eight matches after beating Bulgaria 2-0.
Their first chance will come against Republic of Ireland who currently sit five points clear of the Bulgarians in second place after they beat Cyprus on Saturday.
Current group leaders: Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Spain (Q), England (Q), Serbia, Italy and Netherlands (Q).
Current second-placed teams: Sweden, Greece, Slovenia, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Republic of Ireland, Norway.
South America
Top four teams qualify for the finals. Fifth-placed team enters a playoff with the fourth-placed North American team for a finals place.
BRAZIL beat Argentina 3-1 on Saturday to qualify for World Cup 2010, maintaining their record of being the only team to play in every tournament since it began in 1930.
Rarely has a Brazilian team looked so comfortable away in Argentina as they racked up a fourth successive win in the marathon South American group.
First half goals from Luisao and Luis Fabiano put the visitors in control and when Jesus Datalo pulled a goal back, Dunga's Brazil responded by immediately restoring their two goal cushion.
Four days later, Paraguay also secured their place to next summer's finals by beating the troubled Argentines.
The result completed an excellent week for the Paraguayans who had mathematically ended Bolivia's World Cup hopes with a 1-0 win on Saturday.
But, for Argentina, the week could not have gone any worse and legendary coach Diego Maradona is now under severe pressure from the Argentine press.
Third-placed Chile still need one more victory for qualification after a disappointing pair of results.
A 2-2 draw against Venezuela was followed by a 4-2 defeat against ten-man Brazil, who were intent on celebrating their hard-won finals place in style.
Ecuador have benefited most from Argentina's woes, taking fourth place after beating Bolivia 3-1 away in La Paz. That marked a good recovery from a 2-0 loss in Colombia.
Colombia's week went in the opposite direction after the Ecuador match which they hoped would spark a lacklustre campaign.
But the Colombians lost their next match 3-1 against Uruguay and dropped back down to eighth in the standings with a finals place looking a long way off.
The Uruguayans are sixth, having also endured a topsy-turvy week. Their win against Colombia came after a completely unxpected 1-0 loss to bottom-placed Peru.
That was only the Peruvians' second win in 15 matches but they returned to type in their next match against Venezuela who kept their hopes of a first World Cup apperance with a 3-1 win.
Current standings (16 matches of 18): Brazil 33 (Q), Paraguay 30 (Q), Chile 27, Ecuador 23, Argentina 22, Uruguay 21, Venezuela 21, Colombia 20, Bolivia 12, Peru 10.
North & Central America/Caribbean
Top three qualify for the finals. Fourth-placed team enters playoff with fifth-placed South American team for a place in the finals.
UNITED STATES took control and went top of the final qualifying group for the CONCACAF region with two wins in their latest matches.
The Americans followed up a 2-1 home win against El Salvador by winning 1-0 in Port of Spain against Trinidad and Tobago.
The home loss for Trinidad killed off any hopes of the Soca Warriors making a second consecutive finals appearance.
Mexico are just a point behind the United States as they put a troublesome start to the group under Sven Goran Eriksson behind them with four straight World Cup wins.
A fine 3-0 win in Costa Rica was followed by a 1-0 home victory against Honduras added to two wins in June and put the Mexicans in good shape on 15 points.
The Hondurans were previously front-runners and, though they lost in the Azteca, a 4-1 win in their earlier match against the hapless Trinidad and Tobago keeps them third.
Costa Rica are a point behind in fourth but seem to have hit terrible form at the worst possible time.
The 3-0 home loss to Mexico was followed by a last-minute defeat against El Salvador, making it three qualifying losses in a row without a single goal scored.
That 1-0 win for El Salvador came on the back of three successive losses and kept their slim hopes of progress alive but probably just for now.
Current standings (8 matches of 10): United States 16, Mexico 15, Honduras 13, Costa Rica 12, El Salvador 8, Trinidad & Tobago 5.
Asia
Australia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea qualified via group phase. The winner of Bahrain-New Zealand over two legs will also qualify for the finals.
BAHRAIN stunned Saudi Arabia with a stoppage-time goal to reach the inter-continental playoff against New Zealand for a place in the World Cup finals.
After a 0-0 draw in the opening match in Bahrain, regular qualifiers Saudi Arabia were hot favourites to meet the All Whites over two legs.
But, for long stages, Bahrain looked to be going through on away goals after Jaycee John equalised an early al-Shamrani goal.
Then, Al-Montashari hit what looked like a dramatic winner in the last minute for the Saudis. But Bahrain were not to be denied.
A 94-minute goal by Abdullatif ensured the away-goals rule would indeed knock Saudi Arabia out after a 2-2 draw in Riyadh.
If Bahrain beat New Zealand, they will join Australia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea as the qualifiers from Asia confederation.
Africa
The five group winners qualify for the finals.
GHANA became the first African country to qualify for the continent's first World Cup after a 2-0 win over Sudan.
The Black Stars made it a perfect four wins from four in Group D with goals from Sunney Muntari and Michael Essien against the bottom-placed Sudanese.
In Group E, Ivory Coast are all-but there after a 5-0 thrashing of their nearest rivals Burkina Faso.
Didier Drogba scored twice to leave the Ivorians needing just one more point from their final two matches.
Matters are much tighter in Group A where Cameroon lead the way but only by a point from Gabon, who the Cameroonians beat twice in the last week.
Samuel Eto'o scored in both matches as Cameroon recorded a 2-0 away win and a 2-1 home victory.
The other two teams in the group, Togo and Morocco, cancelled each other out in a 1-1 draw but remain in contention.
Togo are two points behind with two matches left while Morocco's chances are slim - they are four points behind.
Tunisia remain favourites to qualify from Group B after a late goal against Nigeria secured a 2-2 draw.
Nigeria's third draw in four matches leaves them on six points, two points adrift of the Tunisians who face bottom-placed Kenya in their next match.
Mozambique, on four points, leapfrogged Kenya, on three points, with a 1-0 win on Saturday but both teams only retain very slim chances of qualifying.
In Group C, Algeria remain three points clear of Egypt after both teams enjoyed 1-0 wins in the latest qualifiers against Algeria and Rwanda respectively.
Algeria hold the advantage but if both teams win their matches in October, Egypt will face the Algerians at home in November in the group decider.
Current group leaders: Cameroon, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana (Q), Ivory Coast.
Qualifiers
SOUTH AFRICA (hosts), AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, ENGLAND, GHANA, JAPAN, NETHERLANDS, NORTH KOREA, PARAGUAY, SOUTH KOREA, SPAIN. 11 teams out of 32.
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