New Zealand became the 24th nation to book their place in South Africa with a 1-0 win over Bahrain in Wellington, wining the tie by the same score on aggregate. This will only be New Zealand's second World Cup Finals, after going out in the group stage in Spain in 1982.
Elsewhere yesterday saw the first legs of playoffs in Europe and the Americas. France took control of their tie with Ireland with a 1-0 win in Dublin in a match where the extra quality of the French told in the end. Russia beat Slovenia as was expected, however the concession of a late away goal means the tie is now in the balance with Russia taking a 2-1 lead to Slovenia. If Russia were to miss out to Slovenia it would probably be a bigger shock than France or Portugal missing out since Russia are a highly rated team playing well, unlike Portugal who are drastically underperforming..
Speaking of Portugal, they won their home leg 1-0 over Bosnia-Herzegovina which very much leaves it in the balance. I would love to see Bosnia-Herzegovina overturn this one on Wednesday, the only pity being that we won't get to see Cristiano Ronaldo cry since he won't be there. The final playoff in Europe saw Greece and Ukraine draw 0-0 so that is still anyone's game.
Across the Atlantic, Uruguay took control of the intercontinental playoff against Costa Rica with a 1-0 away win. Costa Rica came within minutes of qualifying automatically from their group only to lose out thanks to late US goals meaning Honduras took the automatic spot from them. I have to say I would rather see the Ticos in the World Cup than the overly physical and slightly dreary Uruguay, but they have their work cut out now.
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