World Cup 2010 qualifiers

And so the final six qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup were decided on Wednesday, and they were not without controversy.

Republic of Ireland were denied by the hand of Henry, a 1-1 draw putting France unjustly through. Irish calls for a replay will be ignored by FIFA - and they should be, otherwise, where would it end? It doesn't stop it being a dismal failure by the officials to spot a double handball AND an offside.

Slovenia knocked out Russia on the away goals rule, winning 1-0 at home, but their late goal in the 2-1 defeat in Russia last Saturday proved crucial.

Portugal beat Bosnia Herzegovina 1-0 to win 2-0 on aggregate.

Greece had an excellent 1-0 in Ukraine after the first leg goalless draw.

In a fiery, bad-tempered African encounter Algeria beat Egypt 1-0 to qualify.

And finally Uruguay drew 1-1 at home with Costa Rica to win 3-2 on aggregate.

So, the 32 qualifiers (with there current FIFA ranking in brackets) are:

Brazil (1)
Spain (2)
Holland (3)
Italy (4)
Germany (5)
Argentina (6)
England (7)
France (9)
Portugal (10)
United States (11)
Switzerland (13)
Cameroon (14)
Greece (16)
Chile (17)
Mexico (18)
Ivory Coast (19)
Serbia (20)
Paraguay (21)
Australia (24)
Uruguay (25)
Denmark (27)
Algeria (29)
Nigeria (32)
Slovakia (33)
Honduras (35)
Ghana (38)
Japan (40)
South Korea (48)
Slovenia (49)
New Zealand (83)
South Africa (85)
North Korea (91)

High rankers to miss out were Croatia (8), Russia (12) and Czech Republic (15).

Onward to the draw on 4 December.