On this night we saw four spots from the Europe zone claimed along with one from Africa and the playoff between the CONCACAF and South American zone teams.

The teams that booked their spots for the finals were Algeria, Greece, France, Portugal, Slovenia and Uruguay.

Uruguay grabbed the final spot in the 32 team finals. They had to fight off Costa Rica who not long ago were leading the CONCACAF zone. The score in the deciding match was 1-1 giving Uruguay a 2-1 aggregate. Uruguay know how it feels to fall at the final hurdle after bowing out in a penalty shoot-out to Australia four years ago.

In Europe it was Greece who advanced from their play-off with Ukraine. Both teams failed to score int he first leg in Athens and it was a single goal from Dimitris Salpingidis that sent Greece to South Africa. It will be the second appearance in the FIFA World Cup finals for Greece and the first time in 16-years. Greece were of course the 2004 European Champions.

Guus Hiddink  was not able to get Russia to the finals after they took a 2-1 home win into the second leg. Russia will be left to think what might have been if they kept a clean sheet in Moscow. They conceded a late goal to give Slovenia a crucial away goal. The return match in Slovenia saw the home team get the advantage when Zlatko Dedic scored just before the break. The 1-0 win sent Slovenia through on the away goals rule.

France were very lucky to advance at the expense of Ireland. France had beaten there opponents 1-0 in Ireland and suffered an early setback when Robbie Keane levelled the tie with a 32nd minute goal. The match then went into extra time and it was a controversial goal from Wiliam Gallas that sent the former champions through to South Africa.

France skipper Thierry Henry handled the ball before crossing to Gallas for the winning goal. The Irish protests were waved away by match referee, Martin Hansson. Television replays left fans around the world in no doubt that it was a blatant handball. I wonder how Henry will feel about the incident in years to come.

Portugal completed their mission to reach South Africa with a second 1-0 result over Bosnia.

In the African play-off it was Algeria who advanced past Egypt after a 1-0 win. Antar Yahya scored the winner in the 39th minute. The play-off was played in nuetral Khartoum, Sudan as after group play both teams were deadlocked on points and goal for and against.

The full list of qualified teams is as follows:

ASIA – Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea
AFRICA – Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Africa (host)
EUROPE – Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland
NORTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN – Honduras, Mexico, United States
OCEANIA – New Zealand
SOUTH AMERICA – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay

The all important draw for the FIFA 2010 World Cup finals will take place at 7pm local time on December 4 in Cape Town, South Africa.

The win gave New Zealand a 1-0 aggregate over the home and away series. The one goal was scored by Rory Fallon just before the halftime break off a Leo Bertos corner kick.

For Bahrain it is another heart-breaking loss as they missed out at the same stage last campaign when they lost to Trinidad and Tobago four years ago. They had a chance to claim the World Cup spot when Sayed Mohamed stepped up to take a penalty kick. Mark Paston will go down as a hero for New Zealand after he saved the shot.

A 1-1 result would have sent Bahrain through on the away goals rule.

Following action in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying on Wednesday 14 October we now know of 21 teams that will join host South Africa in next years finals.

Two teams from Europe added themselves to the list. They were Switzerland who had a 0-0 draw against Israel and Slovakia who defeated Poland in freezing conditions.

Already qualified were Denmark, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy and the Netherlands. The best eight second placed teams now enter a home and away playoff to be held on 14 and 18 November.

Playoff teams will consist of Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, France and Republic of Ireland. Teams will be seeded on the basis of the FIFA world rankings which are due out on 16 October. The draw will take place on Monday October 19 in Zurich.

In the South American zone it was Argentina who pulled off the win in a winner take all matchup with Uruguay. The winning goal came in the 84th minute when substitute Mario Bolatti scored. It was the first win in Uruguay for Argentina in 33 years so the pressure was immense.

In the North, Central America and Caribbean zone it was a heart-breaking 2-2 draw for Costa Rica. It was not until they 5th minute of extra time that the USA tied the score. Costa Rica handed the automatic spot to Honduras and now must get past Uruguay to reach the finals in South Africa.

The rivalry between Japan and Australia has been building since both teams met in Germany in 2006. On that occasion it was Australia who came out on top. Japan got their revenge at the Asian Cup.

Before a crowd of around 70000 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground it was Marcus Tulio Tanaka who opened the scoring as he beat Mark Schwarzer after 40 minutes. The significant thing to note about this goal is that it was the first goal Australia had conceded in this group stage. They had gone seven games without a single goal being scored. After the match Lucas Neill blamed himself for the Japanese goal.

Before the match I tipped a 2-1 win for the Socceroos and thanks to Tim Cahill I hit it on the head. Cahill scored yet again against Japan when he headed home from a long cross on the 59 minute mark.

If that was not enough to haunt Japan, Tim Cahill popped up again to give the Aussies the winning goal in the 77th minute. Nicky Carle had just taken a left footed shot that almost beat the Japanese keeper. He turned it wide for a corner. From the corner it was Cahill who tapped home from close range.

The Aussies following this result end the qualifying on top of the group with a five point margin ahead of Japan. Despite all the criticism from so called fans the Socceroos really could not do much better. Sure they did not play dazzling football at all times but the conceded just one goal in the final group stage and were the clear leaders.

No surprise but Tim Cahill took man of the match honors. In the after match interview Cahill did not have much to say. He just answered his questions by saying I just want to thank the crowd. No doubt he was not happy with the press after their reporting of a nightclub incident in Sydney.

Love to hear your comments about Pim Verbeek and the rest of the Socceroos.

Congratulations go to Lucas Neill who was playing his 50th game for the Socceroos.

Perhaps the biggest name to miss the big event is Portugal. They have some work ahead of them as they are seven points behind leaders Denmark and four points off second-placed Hungary in group 1. The top team in each group qualifies for South Africa, while the second team enters a playoff.

The 2006 World cup runnersup, France are five points adrift of top place Serbia in group 7. They do have a game in hand however it is looking likely that France could have to earn their spot through a playoff.

Another team struggling to qualify is Sweden. They are in the same group as Denmark and Portugal and are currently in fourth spot. It is hard to see them making the finals despite being in the finals on 11 occasions including the past two world cups. In overnight action they did at least manage a 4-0 win over Malta to make up some ground.

The Czech Republic and Turkey are other teams with a long way to go before they get close to qualifying. More than likely you could write them off now.

Looking across the Atlantic to the CONCACAF zone, Mexico are struggling to reach the finals. Zven-Goran Eriksson paid the price for the teams poor form and was removed as national team coach after a 3-1 loss at Honduras. Currently Mexico are in the play-off place one point behind El Salvador, who currently hold the final automatic berth after five matches. A 2-1 win at home over Trinidad and Tobago improved their position as before Matchday 5 Mexico were below El Salvador.

In Africa only the top nation in each of the five groups will advance. There is no second chance. After two matchdays, Cameroon and Morocco are left five points adrift of surprise group leader, Gabon. Between the two of them, Cameroon and Morocco have qualified for the previous nine FIFA World Cups.

The last qualifying spot for the World Cup finals in South Africa will be decided on November 18 when the fifth place team from South America takes on the fourth-placed team from CONCACAF. If that match were to be played today we would see Mexico play Ecuador.

The visiting Bahrain team perhaps had the better of the first half however Scott McDonald had the best chance of the first half. He was in the clear with only the goalie to beat but he blasted the shot over the goal.

The Socceroos picked up the pace in the second half and looked the better team. Mile Sterjovski scored for the home team in the 55th minute as the Bahrain team failed to clear the ball as it came across from the left. He shot from close range to give the Socceroos a 1-0 lead.

Bahrain had a few more chances in the second half but perhaps overplayed the ball and passed one to many times instead of shooting on goal.

With the game now flowing the Socceroos were creating more chances. McDonald wasted another opportunity as he held the ball for too long when he was at the top of the box with Harry Kewell unmarked to his left. Kewell had so much space and would have been a good chance to score.

Kewell when he got the ball a short time later on the left was able to beat a defender before getting onto his left foot but the Australian no. 10 blasted his shot high and wide.

In the game on the weekend Australia saw Tim Cahill hit the post with an acrobatic bicycle kick. In a repeat of that effort Jason Culina also hit the post but this time David Carney was able to follow up the shot and tap home for Australia’s second goal. This came in the 88th minute.

Once again Australia did not dazzle the fans but they kept a clean sheet for the seventh straight game in the qualifying phase. The first half effort was ordinary but a better display in the second half would leave fans happy. I am not sure how the coach would rate the game but it is another win for the Aussies.

Bring on Japan. The Socceroos take on the Japanese team in Melbourne on 17 June.

Did you watch the game? Leave your comments below.

Japan earlier in the night had secured their spot with a 1-0 away win against Uzbekistan.

The Socceroos dominated the match and never really looked like losing to a team that needed the win to stay in the hunt for a spot in South Africa. The Qatar team with full points would still have a chance to qualify through a playoff with Oceania.

Tim Cahill went the closest to scoring in the match after an acrobatic effort hit the post as he did a scissor kick in the first half. Harry Kewell also had some good opportunities however he was not able to find the back of the net. Cahill also went close in the second half after a long ball was played down by Josh Kennedy and Cahill hit it from long range to test the Qatar keeper.

The aim of the match was to secure qualification for Australia. With the draw that has been achieved. One impressive fact is that Australia has gone six matches without conceding a goal.

Australia now can look forward to two home games to close out the qualification process.

In other Asia zone action Korea Republic moved closer to qualification with a 2-0 away win against the United Arab Emirates. The win sees them at the top of their group on 14 points from six matches, Korea DPR are second with 11 points from seven matches and Saudi Arabia hold down third spot with 10 points from six games played.

Congratulations to the Socceroos and Japan.

Shinji Okazaki scored in the ninth minute for Japan to secure the win. Japan were also the first team into the World Cup finals for Germany 2006.