World Cup Round-up

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.

SLOVAKIA clung on against Poland to qualify from Group Three for their first ever World Cup finals appearance since independence.

After a 2-0 loss against second-placed Slovenia on the weekend, the long-time group leaders looked like they had blown their chance.

The weekend result meant Slovakia would have to beat Poland with Slovenia’s final match coming against lowly San Marino.

But the Slovakians won 1-0 to complete a miserable campaign for the Poles who finished fifth with just three wins, two of which were against San Marino.

Slovenia must settle for a playoff after a 3-0 win. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland gained a credible 0-0 draw in Prague against fellow mid-table side Czech Republic.

Switzerland became the final automatic qualifier from the European section after a 0-0 draw in Tel Aviv against Israel was enough to win Group Two.

Although the Greeks were nervy in a 2-1 win against Luxembourg, that result meant any Israel goal would consign the Swiss to the playoffs.

But Swiss duly got the draw they needed to finish a point ahead of the Greeks who will be seeded in the playoffs.

With both winners and runners-up already sorted in Groups Four, Five, Seven, Eight and Nine, only the identity of the playoff teams from Group One and Group Six were undecided.

But the results were as expected. Portugal put behind a poor group campaign to finish second to Denmark with a 4-0 win against Malta.

Despite being without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese had already done the hard work by leapfrogging Sweden with a 3-0 win against Hungary last weekend.

The Swedes’ 4-1 win against Albania meant nothing in the end while, in the other match, Denmark failed to finish unbeaten after a 1-0 home loss to Hungary.

In Group Six, Ukraine had also done the difficult bit by beating England at home on Saturday.

The simple task of beating Andorra was done in style with five second half goals in a 6-0 win.

The win in Andorra knocked out Croatia who summed up their campaign with a laboured 2-1 win against Kazakhstan.

Peter Crouch scored twice and Shaun Wright-Phillips once as England got back on track after their Ukraine blip by beating Belarus 3-0.

It put England on 27 points with nine wins out of 10 and 34 goals. Few would have believed it would go this well in Fabio Capello’s first test after the Euro 2008 failure.

European champions Spain still trumped England, however, with a 5-2 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

This gave them a perfect record of 10 wins out of 10 in Group Five.

Spain were 4-0 up inside 60 minutes and went 5-0 up before two stoppage time goals saved face for Bosnia who will contest the playoffs.

The night was less comfortable for World Champions Italy who were once again grateful to Alberto Gilardino.

The Fiorentina striker scored a last minute equaliser to save a point against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday.

And this time, he scored a hat-trick including another last minute goal, as Italy came back from two goals down to beat Cyprus 3-2 in Group Eight.

The win preserved their unbeaten record – and the Republic of Ireland were also unbeaten in second place.

But the 0-0 draw against Montenegro was quite a come down from the thrilling 2-2 draw against Italy on the weekend and all Irish eyes are on Monday's playoff draw now.

Bulgaria’s 6-2 thrashing of Georgia was much too little, too late.

Germany and Russia also had a ropey night in Group Four. The Germans, who qualified with a 1-0 win in Moscow on Saturday, scraped a draw against Finland with a second-string team.

Behind to an early Finnish goal by Jonatan Johansson, the Germans showed typical resilience to score a scrappy equaliser in the last minute through Lukas Podolski.

Russia could only manage a 1-1 draw with Azerbaijan while Wales won at last – 2-0 away in Liechtenstein.

In Group Seven, Serbia slipped up 2-1 to Lithuania but this was academic after the Serbs’ qualification last weekend.

Second-placed France beat Austria 3-1 while Romania recovered a little from their 5-0 humiliation against Serbia by beating Faroe Islands 3-1.

FOR THE RECORD
Group winners
Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy and Netherlands.
Playoffs - top seeds
Portugal, Greece, Russia and France.
Playoffs -bottom seeds
Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine and Republic of Ireland.
(Note: Norway finished runners-up in Group Nine but had the worst second-place record and miss out altogether).
The draw for the playoffs is this coming Monday. The matches will be played on November 14 and 18.


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.

ARGENTINA overcame a torturous campaign to qualify for the World Cup finals with a 1-0 win against ten-man Uruguay in Montevideo.

Substitute Mario Bolatti had only been on the pitch a few minutes when he struck home the winner with six minutes left after Martin Caceres was sent off.

It was nothing more than Diego Maradona’s Argentines deserved after Uruguay totally froze at the prospect of being able to put their great rivals out.

Maradona was understandably jubilant at full time. He had withstood enormous pressure from the media after his team’s recent struggles which included a 6-1 drubbing from Bolivia and a home loss to Brazil.

But, overall, this was a poor and, at times, bad-tempered match.

Although Argentina looked much more organised than usual, there was still little flair on show from Lionel Messi as the team grinded out only their second away win of the group.

Uruguay were even worse and will be relieved to have the consolation of a playoff against Costa Rica after Ecuador missed their cue against already-qualified Chile.

Humberto Suazo scored the winner on a night of few goals in South America as Chile beat Ecuador 1-0 to finish as runners-up behind Brazil.

The Brazilians fielded a weakened team to finish their campaign with a low-key 0-0 draw against Venezuela.

The Venezuelans remain the only South American country never to have qualified for a World Cup finals.

Third-placed Paraguay slipped up as Colombia finally won their first away game in the whole campaign.

Second half goals from Wigan Athletic's Hugo Rodallega and Gustavo Ramos earned the Colombians a 2-0 win against the already-qualified Paraguayans.

Finally, bottom-placed Peru beat second-bottom Bolivia 1-0 in Lima in a match that will be most remembered for the international retirement of Peru captain Nolberto Solano.

Former Newcastle United and Aston Villa midfielder Solano has often been the only bright spark during particularly lean times for the Peruvians.

But it was Johan Fano who scored the only goal of the game on 54 minutes before being sent off a minute later.

Bolivia were already down to ten men after Rosauro Rivero was dismissed for two first-half yellow card offences.

In the end, it was only their surprise weekend win over Brazil prevented the Bolivians from finishing bottom.

FOR THE RECORD
Final standings (18 matches)
Brazil 34, Chile 33, Paraguay 33, Argentina 28, Uruguay 24, Ecuador 23, Colombia 23, Venezuela 22, Bolivia 15, Peru 13.
Qualified
Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina
Playoff
Uruguay will face Costa Rica from the CONCACAF zone over two legs on November 14 and 18.


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.

HONDURAS qualified for their first World Cup finals since 1982 in the most dramatic fashion as rivals Costa Rica conceded a goal deep into stoppage time against United States.

The Hondurans beat bitter neighbours El Salvador 1-0 but looked to be heading for a playoff against Uruguay with Costa Rica beating the Americans 2-0 in the other match.

But, with 20 minutes left, Michael Bradley pulled a goal back for the USA to set up a stunning finale in Washington DC.

After almost constant pressure on the Costa Rica goal, Jonathan Bornstein converted a corner to equalise in the fifth and final minute of stoppage time.

The win for Honduras and draw for Costa Rica left both sides on 16 points with five wins and a draw from ten matches.

But the Hondurans deservedly qualify with a far superior goal difference of +6, helped no doubt by their 4-0 thrashing of The Ticos in August.

The last minute goal also helped the United States to win the group on 20 points, one point ahead of Mexico who drew 2-2 - with bottom-placed Trinidad & Tobago.

The Mexicans' draw brought to an end a run of five consecutive wins but they should be happy enough to take second place and a comfortable qualification after a really poor start.

They took just three points from four matches at the start of this group stage, a sequence which unsurprisingly cost Sven Goran Eriksson his job.

El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago just never got going in this final phase, and finished fifth and sixth respectively.

FOR THE RECORD
Final standings (10 matches)
United States 20, Mexico 19, Honduras 16, Costa Rica 16, El Salvador 8, Trinidad & Tobago 6
Qualified
United States, Mexico, Honduras
Playoff
Costa Rica will face Uruguay from the South American zone over two legs on November 14 and 18.