Wednesday, November 18, 2009

WC Qualifying, Europe: France, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia Qualify For Finals

The four two-game playoff series from the European Zone for berths in next year's FIFA World Cup finals concluded Wednesday.

At Saint-Denis, France:

After Robbie Keane's goal at 33 minutes enabled Ireland to outscore France 1-0 in regulation time of match two, William Gallas scored the series-winning tally in overtime (104') to enable the French to take the two-match series 2-1 on aggregate to advance to next year's World Cup finals.

At Donetsk, Ukraine:

Dimitris Salpigidis scored the only goal of the game----and the series---at 31 minutes as Greece qualified for only their second World Cup finals as they defeated Ukraine in game two 1-0 on the road and 1-0 for the set on aggregate.

At Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina:

Raul Meireles scored the only goal of the match (55') as visiting Portugal registered a second 1-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina and took the two-match set 2-0 on aggregate. The Portuguese have qualified for their third consecutive World Cup finals.

At Maribor, Slovenia:

Zlatko Dedic scored the lone goal of the match (44') as Slovenia topped visiting Russia 1-0 at home in game two and with the series leveled on goals at 2-2, won the two-match set on the away goals rule and qualified for their first World Cup finals as a separate, independent country.


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