Algeria’s Rafik Safi celebrates after the 1-0 victory over Egypt in Khartoum that qualified his team to the World Cyp finals
A spectacular goal by Antar Yahia's worthy of any victory tally earned Algeria the final African qualifying spot in next year's FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa. The remaining five other berths were also filled, four from Europe and another from the Americas.
Cenntral defender Yahia volleyed home on 40 minutes, and then a solid rearguard effort in the second half kept out Egypt. As a result, Algeria join Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and hosts South Africa as Africa’s representatives in next year’s elite tournament
In front of a capacity crowd inside the Khartoum Stadium in Sudan - with 5,000 more fans locked outside the ground – Algeria, under cRabah Saadane, in his fifth spell as coach, finally put to rest their elimination from the world event by Egypt 20 years ago, almost to the day, and qualified to the finals for the first time in 24 years.
It was a very good match played in sporting spirit despite fears of trouble and at the end of it Algerians at the stadium, in Algeria and abroad exploded with joy as the final whistle sounded sending the north African country to its first football FIFA World Cup since 1986.
At the end of an agonising 90 minutes, in Algiers Hundreds of thousands of people, young and old, flooded into the streets in towns and villages across the country, celebrating with flags, fireworks and car horns. Even a few police officers lost their cool, sounding their sirens to join in the rapture at the triumph by beating Egypt 1-0 in the do-or-die playoff in Khartoum.
Not many scoring opportunities were created but the respective goalkeepers were both up to what was thrown at them and it took an almost superhuman effort by Antar Yahia to beat the deadlock.
Elsewhere, France, Greece, Portugal and Slovenia filled up the last four remaining places from the European zone at the end of the return ties of the play-off matches, while Uruguay won the final place from their tie with Costa Rica.
At the Stade de France in the French capital, France secured their FIFA World Cup spot in dramatic fashion with a thrilling 1-1 extra time draw with the Republic of Ireland for a 2-1 aggregate score, but it took a hotly disputed goal to push them through
Beaten 1-0 in Dublin last Saturday in the first leg of their play-off, had taken a shock lead in the 32nd minute through Robbie Keane and the Irish were unlucky not to score more before forcing the match to extra time.
The luck of the Irish really deserted them six minutes into the first additional 15-minute spell when Thierry Henry clearly played the ball with his left hand before shooting at goal where and the ball was bundled into the net by William Gallas.
The goal enabled France to qualify and avoid a repeat of their humiliating failure, at the hands of Bulgaria, to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup finals.
The Republic, especially captain Robbie Keane, had the lion's share of the chances in regulation time, and they will be kicking themselves having last qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where they reached the Round of 16.
Greece managed a 1-0 away victory against Ukrania after drawing the first game, 0-0 on their home ground on Saturday. They went ahead went just beyond the half-hour through Dimitrios Salpingidis and then held on to stun their hosts, who focused all their efforts around feeding Andriy Shevchenko. But they lacked the imagination to truly trouble Greece’s solid rearguard.
Slovenia proved to be surprise qualifiers after beating Russia 1-0 to go through on the away goals counting double rule after a 2-2 aggregate score. Slovenia went through the entire group phase without suffering a loss or even conceding a goal in Maribor and they continued in the same vein in what was an intense physical duel.
Russia finished with nine players and were never able to impose their will on the match, while also wasting their chances. In contrast, Matjaz Kek’s men enjoyed fewer opportunities but proved more efficient.
As for Russia’s Ditch coach Guus Hiddink, he narrowly missed out on qualifying for a fourth consecutive final tournament at the helm of a different team.
Slovenia scored the all-important goal just before half-time when Valter Birsa’s probing pass from the right towards two of his team-mates and a pair of Russian defenders found Zlatko Dedic connecting with the ball to score.
Facing a highly motivated Bosnia-Herzegovina side, Portugal showed real maturity to come out on top away from home repeating a 1-0 victory to qualify on a 2-0 aggregate. Never letting themselves be ruffled, they rode out the early storm and slowly began to make their superior technique tell against their physically powerful opponents.
With almost an hour gone, Nani did well to take himself away from two defenders before sliding a ball across to the unmarked Raul Meireles who needed no further prompting and confidently fired his team ahead with a shot into the corner. It was the goal that won the match.
The Bosnians increasingly lost their focus as time wore on and they finished the match a man down after Sejad Salihovic saw red on 77 minutes.
Ururuay drew Costa Rica 1-0 in Montevideo for a 2-1 aggregate score to win the Concacaf/Conmebol Play-off. They held the 1-0 edge from last week's win on the road in San Jose, and finished the job at their Estadio Centenario.
Uruguay went ahead through substitute Sebastian Abreu in the 70th minute, while Costa Rica equalised only four minutes later when Walter Centeno fired home after some confusion in the Uruguayan back line.
The two-time world champions Uruguay thus make their way back to the global extravaganza reaching their first FIFA World Cup finals since Korea/Japan 2002.
Final Results
African Zone Play-off
Algeria v Egypt 1-0
Euroepan Zone
France v Rep Ireland 1-1 (agg. 2-1)
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Portugal 0-1 (agg. 0-2)
Slovenia v Russia 1-0 (agg. 2-0)
*Slovenia qualify on goals away rule
Ukraine v Greece 0-1 (agg. 0-1)
Concacaf/Conmebol Play-off
Uruguay v Costa Rica 1-1 (Agg. 2-1)
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