World Cup Round-up

Europe playoffs, second leg
France 1-1 Republic of Ireland (after extra time)
France won 2-1 on aggregate, aet, and qualify for World Cup 2010.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND suffered World Cup heartbreak as France fluked their way to the finals thanks to a helping hand from Thierry Henry.

Henry's former Arsenal team mate William Gallas scored the winning goal in extra time with the French winning 2-1 on aggregate in Paris.

Looking to make up their one-goal deficit from the first leg defeat in Dublin, the Irish started the match positively as Liam Lawrence tried to set up first Robbie Keane and then Kevin Doyle.

Giovanni Trapattoni's men got their reward on 33 minutes when Fulham's Damien Duff got to the byline and pulled the ball back for Keane to finish in the bottom corner.

The Irish continued to press in the second half as John O'Shea fired over the bar at the back post before Duff and Keane both had efforts saved by French keeper Hugo Lloris.

France finished the match stronger but Republic of Ireland did enough to take the tie into extra time, a dream situation for the Irish after the first leg result.

But a cynical side of Raymond Domenech's team was revealed as their desperation for a finals place became more and more desperate.

Nicolas Anelka dived over the sprawling arms of Shay Given looking for a penalty even though he had dived and the ball had run out of play.

Moments later, the French, enjoying their best spell in the game, put the ball past Given but Henry's attempt was correctly ruled out for offside.

The Irish were under increasing pressure but the defence looked to be holding a good line as another ball was pumped forward.

Henry was in an offside position, then blatantly controlled the ball with his hand to stop it running out for a goal kick before pulling it back to Gallas for a simple finish in the 103rd minute.
The whole Irish defence protested but Swedish referee Martin Hansson remained unmoved.

As the game faded away, Hansson spotted a separate handball by Anelka - it was a cruel decision for Ireland who had little luck all night.

Exhausted and unable to mount a counter attack of their own, Republic of Ireland were out. France are somehow through to the finals.


Bosnia-Herzegovina 0-1 Portugal
Portugal won 2-0 on aggregate, and qualify for World Cup 2010.

WORLD CUP 2006 semi finalists Portugal eased their way to the World Cup finals as a 1-0 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo gave them a 2-0 aggregate victory.

Jose Raul Meireles scored after 55 minutes with a neat finish in the bottom corner as the Portuguese, without Cristiano Ronaldo, saw off a spirited Bosnian challenge .

Despite losing 1-0 in Lisbon, Bosnia had given a fine display, hitting the woodwork three times, as they looked to qualify for their first major finals.

But the Bosnians were not able to give a repeat of that performance in front of the home fans as Carlos Queiroz's Portugal held off the remaining challenge easily.

Needing three goals after Meireles' effort, the night got worse for Bosnia when Sejad Salihovic was sent off on 77 minutes.


Slovenia 1-0 Russia
2-2 on aggregate. Slovenia won on away goals, and qualify for World Cup 2010.

SLOVENIA surprised nine-man Russia who suffered the fate of losing on the away goals rule, having given away a two-goal lead in the tie.

Zlatko Dedic gave the Slovenians the lead on the stroke of half time, as a static Russian defence failed to stop him from converting in the bottom corner.

Russia had dominated the first leg in Moscow but a late Slovenian goal changed there changed the course of this tie.

Dedic's goal put Slovenia ahead in the tie and it got worse for Hiddink's men when substitute Alexander Kerzhakov was sent off for by Norwegian referee Terje Hauge.

Kerzhakov was dismissed on 66 minutes after leading with his studs in a challenge against Slovenia goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.

Russia still chased the game in a positive fashion and striker Yuri Zhirkov produced a good stop by Handanovic.

But their hopes ended when Zhirkov was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in stoppage time.

Matjaz Kek's Slovenia were the lowest-ranked playoff contenders and qualify for only their second World Cup finals, after an appearance in 2002.

Russia's highly-rated Dutch coach Guus Hiddink may now consider offers from elsewhere.


Ukraine 0-1 Greece
Greece won 1-0 on aggregate, and qualify for World Cup 2010.

GREECE qualified for only their second World Cup finals appearance after an impressive 1-0 defeat of Ukraine in Donetsk.

Ukraine had dominated the goalless first leg in Athens and hoped home advantage would see them qualify for a second successive finals.

But Dimitris Salpigidis decided the result in the Greeks' favour after another tight tie on 30 minutes when he slid home a through ball by Giorgios Samaras.

The Ukrainians desperately searched for an equaliser but Greece's infamous rearguard held firm.

Greece relied mainly on its defence for the extraordinary Euro 2004 triumph.

But their last, and so far only, World Cup appearance was less successful with all three group games lost without scoring in 1994.

Now, legendary German coach Otto Rehhagel has given his team the chance to consign that record to history.


Africa playoff
Egypt 0-1 Algeria (in Sudan)
Algeria qualify for World Cup 2010.

ALGERIA qualified for their first World Cup finals since 1986, beating North African rivals Egypt 1-0 in an unsurprisingly bad-tempered match in neutral Sudan.

Antan Yahia scored a brilliant volley from the edge of the box just before half time to settle the tie in the Algerians' favour.

The build-up to this clash had been dominated by possible violence between the fans.

But, while that threat was controlled by security forces in Khartoum, the trouble on the pitch erupted immediately with Portsmouth defender Nadir Belhadj booked after just 56 seconds.

It looked like it was going to be a long night for the officials when, on three minutes, an innocuous foul led to a brawl in the middle of the pitch.

But, after Seychellois referee Eddy Maillet restored order, some football was finally played and Algeria fashioned the best chance of the early stages through Yahia.

Egypt, who beat the Algerians 2-0 on Saturday to force this decider, came back as Mohamed Aboutrika put his volley wide

But, just as the first half looked to be drawing to a stalemate, Yahia struck to send one half of the 42,000 capacity crowd into delirium.

Early in the second half, Algeria could have killed off the tie but Rafik Saifi shot straight at the Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadari who was having a good game.

Realising their World Cup hopes were diminishing fast, Egypt pressed but the wasteful Aboutrika timed his header badly, blazing it over the bar.

But the Pharaohs still did not give up and only a last-ditch save from Faouzi Chaouchi prevented them levelling the tie.

With fully seven minutes of stoppages announced, a further Egyptian push was expected.

But, except for a lame penalty appeal and a few high balls into the box, Algeria saw the last few minutes through easily.

After becoming the last African country to qualify, the Algerian celebrations on the final whistle was unsurprisingly one of the most passionate parties in the whole qualification process.


Americas playoff, second leg
Uruguay 1-1 Costa Rica
Uruguay won 2-1 on aggregate, and qualify for World Cup 2010.

URUGUAY booked the last tickets for South Africa by beating Costa Rica 2-1 on aggregate to qualify for World Cup 2010.

Leading 1-0 from the first leg, the Uruguayans passage to the finals looked simple as a Sebastian Abreu goal made it 1-0 in the Centenario in Montevideo and 2-0 on aggregate.

The South Americans continued to dominate with former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan particularly guilty of missing chances to kill the tie off.

Uruguay's profligacy looked like it could cost them when Walter Centeno pulled a goal back out of the blue for Costa Rica.

That strike meant The Ticos needed only one more goal to qualify on away goals.

After a five-minute delay due to a melee between the benches, Uruguay withdrew their playmaker Nicolas Lodeiro as they looked to see the game out.

The defensive strategy nearly cost the Uruguayans dear as Bristol City's Alvaro Saborio missed a huge opportunity to put the Costa Ricans ahead in the tie.

But, having survived the scare, Uruguay went back on the attack for the final spell of the game, denying Costa Rica a third successive finals appearance.


Full list of Qualifiers
Hosts: SOUTH AFRICA
Africa: ALGERIA, CAMEROON, GHANA, IVORY COAST, NIGERIA.
Asia-Oceania: AUSTRALIA, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND, NORTH KOREA, SOUTH KOREA.
Europe: DENMARK, ENGLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, ITALY, NETHERLANDS, PORTUGAL, SERBIA, SLOVENIA, SLOVAKIA, SPAIN, SWITZERLAND.
North/Central America: HONDURAS, MEXICO, UNITED STATES.
South America: ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CHILE, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY.
The World Cup finals draw from Cape Town is on Friday, December 4 at 1700 GMT.