ALMOST all of the powerhouses of world football who were forced into the 2014 World Cup playoffs have ultimately negotiated their way to the finals in Brazil.
France, though unseeded, were still favourites to progress against Ukraine - however, Les Bleus inconsistent form meant that they had the closest the call of all the European teams.
Didier Deschamps' men were beaten quite convincingly in Kiev and, having failed to score an away goal in their 2-0 defeat, were aware that four goals would be needed if Ukraine scored in Paris.
Instead, at the Stade de France, the French dominated from the start with goals from Mamadou Sakho and Karim Benzema repairing the damage from the first leg within half an hour.
Ukraine went down to 10 men with Yevhen Khacheridi sent off for two bookings either side of half time and Oleg Gusev own goal on 72 minutes then put France ahead for the first time in tie.
Still, just one goal would be enough for Ukraine to go through on away goals. However, France held out with some ease to become effectively the last of the 32 qualifiers.
That is not officially correct because Mexico and Uruguay still have to labour through 90 minutes tomorrow against New Zealand and Jordan respectively in their inter-continental playoffs.
Mexico ended up in the playoffs because of some simply dreadful form which left them down in fourth place at the end of the CONCACAF qualifiers - and only then because the United States scored two last-minute goals against Panama.
How New Zealand would have preferred to face the Panamanians! Mexico, for all their faults, were simply too strong for Ricki Herbert's All Whites, winning 5-1 at the Azteca to render the second leg a formality.
World Cup 2010 semi finalists Uruguay enjoyed an even more convincing win, 5-0 away in Jordan, to ensure their return match at the Centenario in Montevideo will simply be a celebration.
Oddly, Luis Suarez was not on the scoresheet in Amman - and it took Paris Saint-Germain forward Edinson Cavani until stoppage time to register although, when he did, it was with a cracking direct free-kick.
Nevertheless, Maxi Pereira, Cristian Stuani, Nicolas Lodeiro and Cristian Rodriguez all took advantage of some woeful defending to put the tie out of reach of the Middle East outfit.
Back to Europe, and the tie of the night was in Stockholm where Sweden began their match 1-0 down to Portugal following Cristiano Ronaldo's first leg goal.
After a cagey first half, Ronaldo made the breakthrough again, leaving the Swedes needing three to score.
Suddenly, though, the situation sent Sweden on the front foot for almost the first time in the tie. It is a tactic perhaps they should have considered earlier given the talent of Zlatan Ibrahimovic leads their attack.
And, indeed, their talisman duly began to deliver, heading an on-the-night equaliser before drawing the aggregate scores level with a rasping free-kick into the bottom corner.
With less than 20 minutes left, Sweden still needed one more - and it was almost inevitable that they would be caught on the break.
Ronaldo broke Swedish hearts with a cool, well-struck low finish for his third of the tie on 77 minutes before the Real Madrid star completed a second-leg hat-trick less than two minutes later.
A tie dominated by two of the undoubted stars of world football was won by the Madeira-born man, who now travels with his countrymen across the Atlantic to the largest Portuguese-speaking nation on the planet.
Also in Brazil will be Greece who qualified for successive World Cup finals for the first time having done most of the hard work last Friday in Athens.
Konstantinos Mitroglou scored twice in a 3-1 win, and when the same player made it 4-1 on aggregate early in the second leg in Bucharest, it was a long way back for Romania.
Their best chance perhaps was to force extra time on the back of the momentum of a comeback - but, though an own goal by Vasilios Torosidis briefly gave them hope, a Greek tragedy was never likely.
Speaking of ultimately dashed hope brings us to the fourth European tie which featured the fairytale of Iceland, bottom-seeded in qualifying and yet runners-up to Switzerland in Group E.
The adventure was still on heading into the second leg, with the Icelanders having drawn the first one in Reykjavik 0-0 despite playing almost all of the second half with 10 men following Olafur Skulason's dismissal.
In Zagreb, the roles were reversed with Croatia down to 10 following the sending off of Bayern Munich striker Mario Mandzukic.
But, by then, Mandzukic had given the Croatians an early lead and, when Darijo Srna doubled the advantage for the short-handed seeds, the fairy dust had rather dissipated.
Surprise package Iceland had been unwrapped and exposed. Croatia, meanwhile, have impressively missed only one World Cup finals since gaining independence.
In Africa, the sub-Saharan countries in the west were dominant in the final reckoning as Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria all sealed their place in the finals.
Only Algeria qualified from North Africa with Egypt letting themselves down big time again.
The Egyptians, who are without a finals appearance since 1990, will have to wait at least another four years longer after going down 6-1 to 2010 quarter finalists Ghana in the first leg.
Effectively, it ensured any efforts in Cairo - eventually a 2-1 win - would be forlorn. Their underachievement goes on while Ghana's Black Stars rise again.
Ivory Coast also did most of the hard work in the first match, and indeed in the first 14 minutes, when they went 2-0 up thanks to a Didier Drogba penalty and an own goal.
The Elephants then went 3-0 up but a goal from Newcastle United's Papiss Cisse deep in stoppage time left Senegal with some hope.
That little bit of hope became much more tangible when a Moussa Sow penalty 13 minutes from time left the Lions of Teranga just a goal way from the finals.
But, instead, the final goal of the tie went to Ivorians as Salomon Kalou wrapped up a 4-2 aggregate win in the last minute.
It could have been all so different if Senegal had not been forced to play their home match in the third round at a neutral venue in Morocco.
At the same time, though, the one-year ban was imposed due to riots in an African Nations Cup match against Ivory Coast earlier in 2013 so there can be little sympathy, to be honest.
Elsewhere, on the continent, Nigeria made light work of Ethiopia, the east Africans' attempts at a first-time qualification dashed by Super Eagles' wins in both legs.
However, the other two ties were much closer. Burkina Faso, also looking to make it to a finals for the first time, gave themselves a great chance of progressing by winning the first leg against Algeria 3-2.
But those two away goals for the Desert Foxes ended up proving vital as an early goal in the second half of the second leg from former Rangers man Madjid Bougherra gave the Algerians a 1-0 win, and victory in the tie.
Algeria, who famously drew 0-0 with England in 2010, have thus qualified for consecutive World Cups for the second time in their history - they also achieved the feat in 1982 and 1986.
Four years after that, of course, Cameroon announced themselves on the world football stage, taking England to extra time in a World Cup quarter final.
Ever since, the Indomitable Lions have disappointed in the finals, never progressing beyond the group and even missing out altogether in 2006.
Nevertheless, a comprehensive second leg win - 4-1 against Tunisia - has given them another chance of redemption, Volker Finke's men finding it surprisingly easy in Yaounde after a tight 0-0 draw away.
The World Cup finals draw at Costa do Sauípe Resort in Bahia on Friday 6 December at 4pm GMT. The eight seeds will be hosts Brazil, holders Spain, and also Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Switzerland and Uruguay.
QUALIFIERS (by continent)
Africa (CAF) Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria
Asia (AFC) Australia, Iran, Japan, South Korea
North America (CONCACAF) Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, United States
South America (CONMEBOL) Argentina, Brazil (hosts), Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay
Europe (UEFA) Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland
RESULTS
UEFA (Europe)
| First Leg | Second Leg | Agg | ||||||||||
| 15 Nov, 19:45 | Portugal | 1-0 | Sweden | 19 Nov, 19:45 | Sweden | 2-3 | Portugal | 2-4 | ||||
| 15 Nov, 19:45 | Ukraine | 2-0 | France | 19 Nov, 20:00 | France | 3-0 | Ukraine | 3-2 | ||||
| 15 Nov, 19:45 | Greece | 3-1 | Romania | 19 Nov, 19:00 | Romania | 1-1 | Greece | 2-4 | ||||
| 15 Nov, 19:00 | Iceland | 0-0 | Croatia | 19 Nov, 19:15 | Croatia | 2-0 | Iceland | 2-0 |
CAF (Africa)
| First Leg | Second Leg | Agg | ||||||||||
| 12 Oct, 16:00 | Ivory Coast | 3-1 | Senegal | 16 Nov, 19:00 | Senegal | 1-1 | Ivory Coast | 2-4 | ||||
| 13 Oct, 14:00 | Ethiopia | 1-2 | Nigeria | 16 Nov, 15:00 | Nigeria | 2-0 | Ethiopia | 4-1 | ||||
| 13 Oct, 18:00 | Tunisia | 0-0 | Cameroon | 17 Nov, 14:30 | Cameroon | 4-1 | Tunisia | 4-1 | ||||
| 15 Oct, 17:00 | Ghana | 6-1 | Egypt | 19 Nov, 16:00 | Egypt | 2-1 | Ghana | 3-7 | ||||
| 12 Oct, 17:00 | Burkina Faso | 3-2 | Algeria | 19 Nov, 18:15 | Algeria | 1-0 | Burkina Faso | (a)3-3 |
Inter-confederation (AFC v CONMEBOL, CONCACAF v OFC)
| First Leg | Second Leg | Agg | ||||||||||
| 13 Nov, 15:00 | Jordan | 0-5 | Uruguay | 20 Nov, 23:00 | Uruguay | 0-0 | Jordan | 5-0 | ||||
| 13 Nov, 20:30 | Mexico | 5-1 | New Zealand | 20 Nov, 06:00 | New Zealand | 2-4 | Mexico | 3-9 |
Selected international matches
14-17 Nov
England 0-2 Chile, Scotland 0-0 United States, Belgium 0-2 Colombia, South Korea 2-1 Switzerland, Russia 1-1 Serbia, Italy 1-1 Germany, Ecuador 0-0 Argentina, Japan 2-2 Netherlands, Equatorial Guinea 1-2 Spain, Honduras 0-5 Brazil
18-19 Nov
England 0-1 Germany, Italy 2-2 Nigeria, Argentina 2-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina, Australia 1-0 Costa Rica, Austria 1-0 United States, Belgium 2-3 Japan, South Africa 1-0 Spain, Russia 2-1 South Korea, Netherlands 0-0 Colombia, Brazil 2-1 Chile, Honduras 2-2 Ecuador
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