On the final day of the two-year World Cup qualifying period, France, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, Algeria and Uruguay were winners in the various playoffs around the globe.
With the 32-team field now complete, the participants will await the Dec. 4 draw that will determine the makeup of the eight four-team groups as well as the dates and sites of all the first-round matches. The World Cup, hosted for the first time by South Africa, will be begin June 11 and the championship match will be played July 11.
France had defeated Ireland 1-0 in the first of their two-match playoff in Dublin last Saturday and Ireland finished regulation time in Wednesday's meeting with a 1-0 lead. Since the teams were tied in total goals, they went through a 30-minute overtime and Gallas scored in the 13th minute of the extra period.
The goal, however, came after French star Thierry Henry had appeared to twice handle the ball prior to getting it to Gallas.
Greece advanced with a 1-0 win over Ukraine after the teams had played to a 0-0 tie in their first meeting. Portugal posted its second straight 1-0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia advanced with a 1-0 win over Russia.
Algeria won a one-game playoff over Egypt after they had finished tied atop their African qualifying group. Egypt had forced the playoff by beating Algeria 2-0 in Cairo last week.
Uruguay earned its World Cup berth by virtue of a 1-1 tie with Costa Rica after producing a 1-0 victory in their first match.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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