Italy, Germany, Mexico, U.S. off to World Cup
Last Updated: Saturday, October 10, 2009 | 2:45 PM ET
CBC Sports
Defending champion Italy qualified Saturday for next year's World Cup, along with Germany, Chile, Denmark, Serbia and Ivory Coast.
France, Ireland and Russia assured themselves of second-place finishes and will try to earn berths in next month's European soccer playoffs.
Saturday's qualifiers join host South Africa, England, Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Netherlands, Spain, Brazil and Paraguay. 
Germany's Miroslav Klose reacts with teammate Mesut Oezil after scoring the opening goal against Russia during their World Cup qualifying soccer match at Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on Saturday. (Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press)
Later Saturday, the United States was to be at Honduras to try to clinch its sixth straight berth. Argentina was home against Peru, trying to climb into the top four of South American qualifying and an automatic berth.
Germany used a 1-0 victory against Russia on Saturday to win Group 4 of its qualifying region and earn a ticket to South Africa.
Forward Miroslav Klose scored in the 34th minute in Moscow to give his country the 1-0 lead and the eventual win.
"We prepared the team in such a way that we said, 'We have our hand on the ticket to South Africa. We can decide it ourselves if we win here,"' Germany coach Joachim Loew said. "We said from the start that we wanted to play for a win here, and so go forward. Of course, we had a bit of luck in some situations, one has to say that."
The Germans (8-0-1) played the final 30 minutes without defender Jerome Boateng after he received two yellow cards.
Russia did have a late charge during injury time, but sound German defence shut the door on any attempt at evening the score.
"We cannot be happy about the result but about the attacking way we played, you can be satisfied," Russia coach Guus Hiddink said.
With the loss, Russia (7-2) cannot catch Germany and must win a home-and-home playoff match to qualify for the World Cup.
"If we play as we have in this and recent qualifying games, we are of course favourites," Hiddink said.
Germany hosts Finland on Wednesday and Russia travels to Azerbaijan.
Italy 2, Ireland 2
A 90th-minute goal from substitute striker Alberto Gilardino helped defending champion Italy clinch a berth with a draw with Ireland.
Ireland appeared to have secured a stunning 2-1 win with Sean St. Ledger's diving header in the 87th minute, but Gilardino steered the ball past keeper Shay Given at the end.
Midfielder Glenn Whelan had given Ireland a lead in the eighth minute, with Mauro Camoranesi heading in an equalizer for Italy in the 26th minute. 
Alberto Gilardino celebrates his late goal for Italy in Dublin on Saturday. (Phil Cole/Getty Images)
"We're pleased to have it happen tonight," said Italian coach Marcello Lippi. "It would have been absurd to lose, considering the way we played."
The Azzurri (6-0-3) won Group 8 with 21 points, and Ireland (4-0-5) is four points back with one game to go.
Ireland will finish second in Group 8 after its final game Wednesday against Montenegro and will be off to the European playoffs.
Mexico 4, El Salvador 1
Mexico secured its passage to the World Cup with a resounding win over El Salvador, which was eliminated from contention Saturday.
Cuauhtermoc Blanco, Francisco Palencia and Carlos Vega scored for El Tri after Marvin Gonzalez's own-goal had given the hosts the lead in the 25th minute at the Azteca stadium.
Julio Martinez scored a late goal for El Salvador, which stayed second bottom of regional qualifying with eight points.
Mexico, which qualified for its fifth straight World Cup, leads CONCACAF qualifying with 18 points, two better than the United States which played Honduras later.
United States 3, Honduras 2
Conor Casey scored his first two international goals in the second half and Landon Donovan added a goal as the United States clinched its sixth straight World Cup berth with a game to spare by rallying past Honduras.
"We did a good job tonight," Donovan said. "We're going to South Africa."
In one of the most thrilling end-to-end matches the U.S. has played in many years, the Americans took a 3-1 lead before Honduras closed on Julio Cesar De Leon's second goal of the game.
Carlos Pavon had a chance to tie following a hand ball in the penalty area by Jonathan Spector. But Pavon put his penalty kick over the crossbar in the 87th minute, then fired high on an open header from in front in the 89th.
France 5, Faeroe Islands 0
Andre-Pierre Gignac scored twice in France's easy win, which clinched second spot in its World Cup qualifying group for the 2006 runners-up.
Gignac, who scored in France's 1-0 win at the Faeroes in August, put his team 1-0 ahead in the 34th minute. The Toulouse forward doubled the lead when he opened up the defence before firing a low shot into the far corner in the 39th.
Arsenal defender Williams Gallas, Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema also scored.
Serbia gained the automatic spot in Group 7, with 22 points and a four-point lead over France after the big win over Romania.
Nikola Zigic scored in the 37th minute for a 1-0 lead at the break, but the second half was all Serbia. Marko Pantelic and Zdravko Kuzmanovic added to the lead, with Milan Jovanovic scoring twice in the last 10 minutes of the match.
Ivory Coast 1, Malawi 1
In Blantyre, Malawi, Jacob Ngwira scored in the 64th minute to put the home country on top, but the lead did not last long.
In the 67th minute, just two minutes after entering the game, Didier Drogba equalized for Ivory Coast.
The strike, which forced the draw, propelled Ivory Coast to the top of Group E and into the World Cup.
Denmark 1, Sweden 0
Denmark will return to the World Cup after missing the 2006 tournament.
Jakob Poulsen's score at 79 minutes gave Denmark a 1-0 win and a birth in the 2010 World Cup.
The celebration began right away as Danish coach Morten Olsen was hoisted into the air.
"It's wonderful," Olsen said. "We played a better game, so our win was well deserved. … All the players who have been on the team have been fantastic."
Poulsen's strike, taken from outside the penalty area, fooled the Swedish keeper and found the back of the goal.
Denmark went on to win and advance to the World Cup.
Portugal 3, Hungary 0
Simao Sabrosa scored twice and Liedson added another in Lisbon for Portugal's first home win in almost two years.
Portugal moved up to second place in Group 1 and on course for a playoff spot for next year's tournament in South Africa.
The Portuguese have 16 points, one more than third-place Sweden with a game to play against Malta on Wednesday. Hungary has 13 points.
Chile 4, Colombia 2
Chile will return to the World Cup for the first time since 1998. In a frantic matchup at the Atanasio Girardot Stadium in Medellin, Colombia went ahead in the 13th minute on Arturo Vidal's own-goal.
Waldo Ponce tied the score in the 35th and Chile went ahead one minute later when Humberto Suazo headed in Fabian Orellana's short pass.
Giovanni Moreno tied it 2-2 in the 63rd before substitute Jorge Valdivia put Chile ahead for good in the 72nd. Fabian Orellana added the final goal in the 79th.
Chile (9-5-3) ensured it will finish among the top four in South America and joined Brazil and Paraguay in next year's 32-nation field. Colombia is 5-7-5.
Argentina 2, Peru 1
Martin Palermo scored three minutes into extra time to give Argentina the victory and keep their World Cup hopes alive. Argentina's future will be settled in Wednesday's final
Palermo scored from close-in on a scrambled play in the final seconds as a driving rain soaked the field at Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires.
Peru's Hernan Rengifo levelled the match with about 20 seconds left in regulation time after Real Madrid Gonzalo Higuain put Argentina ahead in the 48th.
Costa Rica 4, Trinidad & Tobago 0
Costa Rica beat Trinidad & Tobago to put itself in position to qualify.
Alvaro Saborio scored two goals and Walter Centeno added another, while Radanfa Abubakr's own-goal opened the scoring at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium as new coach Rene Simoes made a winning debut.
Costa Rica moved into third — and the last automatic qualifying place — with 15 points.
