And then there were 32...

Well, quiet a night that was eh? Drama aplenty across the globe in the final night of World Cup qualification.

First up were Algeria and Egypt, in Khartoum. A cagy, niggle match was settled with a stunning winning from a centre back no less to send Algeria through to their first finals since 1986. Egypt, despite having much of the possession, didn’t threaten as much as their quality suggested they might, although the Algerian keeper did pull off a couple of fine saves. The celebrations at the end were extreme, both in Khartoum, Algeria and in Paris, where the Champs Elysees was taken over by Algerians, not always in a good way.

In Europe, Greece progressed thanks to a terrific away win in Ukraine, and Portugal did likewise in Bosnia. The main drama was elsewhere, with Slovenia beating Russia 1-0 to go through on away goals as Russia were made to pay for letting the Slovenians back in the first leg. So the World Cup will be without Hiddink, Arhsavin and the Russian team who at times lit up Euro 2008.

Ireland beat France over 90 minutes in Paris thanks to an excellent battling performance. That meant extra time, which was settled thanks to Thierry Henry’s handball before passing to Gallas to score the winner.

Much has been said and written about this already, but in my opinion Thierry Henry isn’t the real villain of the piece. Yes he cheated, but then show me a footballer who doesn’t? Robbie Keane handled the ball twice trying to gain an unfair advantage but was spotted, Henry got away with it, that’s the difference.

The referee, linesman and FIFA are the ones who should be embarrassed the most. It should have been spotted, and while the referee was probably unsighted, the linesman has no excuses. As for FIFA, the backlash from this incident is an indictment on their refusal to entertain the idea of video replays, as almost every other major sport has done.

More on this issue later, so moving on, the 32nd and final spot in South Africa was claimed by two time champions Uruguay thanks to a 1-1 draw with Costa Rica in Montevideo. Costa Rica needed just one more goal to take them through instead but fell short.

Needless to say my predictions were laughable. I only got 3 out fot eh 6 qualifying teams correct, and most of them didn't quite do it how I though they would...ah, well.