World Cup 2010
World Cup 2010 Qualifiers
In an exciting day and evening of World Cup qualifiers across the globe, Côte d'Ivoire, Mexico, Paraguay, Serbia, Denmark, Germany and Italy qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
In Europe, England lost their 100% record in Group 6 after goalkeeper Robert Green was dismissed early in the first half and Nazarenko's deflected goal was enough for the hosts in a match marred by flares thrown from the crowd.
Elsewhere in the the European qualifying zone Italy grabbed a late 2-2 draw with the Republic of Ireland at Croke Park in Dublin to qualify. Fellow European powerhouse Germany also made it to South Africa with a 1-0 win in Moscow to condemn the Russians to the play-offs.
Switzerland, Serbia and Denmark also gained automatic qualification with Denmark's 1-0 defeat of local Scandinavian rivals Sweden opening the door for Portugal to advance to the play-offs, where they will probably join France and the Republic of Ireland.
In South America, Paraguay qualified with a 2-1 win over Venezuela while a dramatic match in the rain in Buenos Aires, saw Argentina scrape a last-gasp win thanks to an injury-time goal from Martin Palermo to leave Diego Maradona's team needing to avoid defeat in Uruguay in their last match to go through.
Another recalled veteran, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, inspired Mexico to a 4-1 win over El Salvador to progress to the finals in South America from the CONCACAF qualifying zone. The USA can join them with a win in Honduras.
In Africa, Côte d'Ivoire joined Ghana and the hosts South Africa in the finals as Chelsea striker Didier Drogba's late goal gave the Elephants a 1-1 draw in Malawi and top position in Group E.
World Cup Qualifiers September 9
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