Switzerland, Slovakia qualify for South Africa
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 | 9:12 PM ET
CBC Sports
Switzerland's Tranquillo Barnetta, right, fights for the ball with Israel's Biram Kayal, during Wednesday's game in Basel. (Georgios Kefalas/Associated Press)Switzerland and Slovakia on Wednesday became the latest countries to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Also on Wednesday, Portugal and Greece kept alive their qualification hopes by securing a spot in next month's European playoffs.
Switzerland stamped its passport for South Africa on the final day of the European qualifiers after holding Israel to a 0-0 draw at home. That result allowed the Swiss to win Group 2 with 21 points, one more than Greece, who finished second.
"This qualification means a lot to me," Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said. "Now we are with the best teams in the world. But first we want to enjoy this evening."
Slovakia claimed first place in Group 3 (with 22 points) ahead of Slovenia (20 points) following a 1-0 win in Poland.
Switzerland and Slovakia are the 20th and 21st nations to clinch a berth for the 32-team World Cup, scheduled for next June in South Africa.
Portugal strolled to a 4-0 win over Malta on home soil to wrap up second place in Group 1.
Even though Portugal, Greece (a 2-1 winner over Luxembourg) and Slovenia (3-0 over San Marino) did not win their respective groups, they still have a chance of qualifying for the World Cup.
The eight-best second place teams from Europe's nine round-robin groups move on to next month's playoffs where teams will be paired off and play a two-game, home-and-away series against each other. The winners of all four playoff matchups qualify for the World Cup.
Portugal's advancement comes at the expense of Sweden, who finished third in Group 1. Sweden's failure to qualify for the World Cup means the tournament will not feature FC Barcelona forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, considered one of the best players in the world.
Croatia beat Kazakhstan 2-1 on Wednesday, but that was only good enough to see them finish third in Group 6 with 20 points, one less than Ukraine, who romped to a 6-0 win over Andorra and moved on to the playoffs.
The draw for the European playoffs takes place on Oct. 19.
The CONCACAF (North and Central America) and South American qualifiers wrap up Wednesday evening.
Other European results from Wednesday (all meaningless games):
- Germany tied Finland, 1-1.
- Russia tied Azerbaijan, 1-1.
- Ireland tied Montenegro, 0-0.
- Latvia defeated Moldova, 3-2.
- Italy defeated Cyprus, 3-2.
- Bulgaria defeated Georgia, 6-2.
- Wales defeated Liechtenstein, 2-0.
- Spain defeated Bosnia, 5-2.
- Turkey defeated Armenia, 2-0.
- Estonia defeated Belgium, 2-0.
- Lithuania defeated Serbia, 2-1.
- Romania defeated Faroe Islands, 3-1.
- Czech Republic tied Northern Ireland, 0-0.
- Hungary defeated Denmark, 1-0.
- Sweden defeated Albania, 4-1.
- France defeated Austria 3-1.
- England defeated Belarus, 3-0.
