Group 1: Winner-Denmark: Playoffs-Portugal: Out-Sweden, Hungry, Albania, Malta. Denmark clinched the group on Saturday with a 1-0 home win in Sweden, a match that determined first in the group, and Denmark's fourth World Cup appearance. Jacob Poulson put in the match's only goal in the 78th minute. At the same time Portugal gained three valuable points thanks to Pepe's 10th minute strike to give Portugal a 1-0 at Hungry. With the win, Portugal was one point ahead of Sweden heading into the final day. Sweden thumped Albania 4-1, meaning Portugal had to win to get into the playoffs. However the Portuguese had no problems with Malta, beating the island nation 4-0. With the win, Portugal qualified for the playoffs to get into the World Cup.
Group 2: Winner-Switzerland: Playoffs-Greece: Out-Latvia, Isreal, Luxembourg, Moldova. The Swiss won the group thanks to a 3-0 at Luxembourg, and then a 0-0 draw against Israel to clinch a World Cup Birth, the ninth for Switzerland. Greece and Latvia met in the match to decide second place on Saturday. Theofanis Gekas put the Greeks up 1-0 early, but Maris Verpakovskis scored two in a row for Latvia. Then the Greeks came back in force, Gekas put in three goals in the second half, as the Greeks rolled to a 5-2 win. With the three point lead, the Greeks only need a point to secure second-they got three. Greece beat Luxembourg 2-1, while Latvia beat Moldova 3-2. With the win, Greece secured second, and a playoff birth.
Group 3: Winner-Slovakia: Playoffs-Slovenia: Out-Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Poland, San Marino. Thanks to an own goal by Poland's Sewryn Gancarcyk in the 4th minute, the Slovakians avoid blowing a 5 point lead with two rounds left. On Saterday Slovakia could of clinched the nations first World Cup as an independent nation, but they were upset at home to Slovenia 2-0, thanks to goals by Slovenia's Valter Birsa and Nejc Pecnik. With the win the Slovenia trimmed the Slovakian lead from 5 point to 2. Slovenia then beat San Marino 3-0 to put the pressure on Slovakia, but the 1-0 win for Slovakia was enough to win the group. Slovenia still will be the playoffs as their win over San Marino made it impossible for the Czech Republic to catch them.
Group 4: Winner-Germany: Playoffs-Russia: Out-Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein. The top two in this group was decided a while ago, leaving the only matter on the table on who would win the group, and who would have to go through the playoffs. Germany won the group with Miroslav Klose's 35th minute strike to beat Russia 1-0. With the win, Germany secures the nation's 17th World Cup (only missed two due to being banned because of causing WWII, and the first one, because of the problems of getting to South America in the 1930's). Russia will be in the playoffs as they were guaranteed second after losing to Germany.
Group 5: Winner-Spain: Playoffs-Bosnia-Herzegovina: Out-Turkey, Belgium, Estonia, Armenia. This group was decided in June as the Spanish went a perfect 10-0, outscoring opponents 28-5. That left second place up for grabs, however Bosnia secured second with a 2-0 win at Estonia, while the only team that could catch them Turkey lost 2-0 at Belgium. This made the last day of play useless, as Spain already secured the nation's thirteenth World Cup birth, while Bosnia-Herzegovina will fight in the playoffs for spot in South Africa.
Group 6: Winner-England: Playoffs-Ukraine: Out-Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra. England wrapped the group up a long time ago. However the one blemish on their 9-1 record proves to be significant to the group as Ukraine won at home against the English 1-0, thanks to a 29th minute goal by Sergey Khizhnichenko the Ukrainians pulled one point ahead of Croatia, and needed a win to secure a playoff spot. Croatia added pressure to Ukraine by beating Kazakhstan 2-1, to force Ukraine to get three points in order to finish second. However, Ukraine made it anti-climatic with 6-0 thrashing of Andorra. England will be in their thirteenth World Cup, while Ukraine will test their luck in the playoffs.
Group 7: Winner-Serbia: Playoffs-France: Out-Austria, Lithuania, Romania, Faroe Islands. Serbia rolled over Romania 5-0 to give the country it's first World Cup birth as the Nation of Serbia, they have qualified as Serbia and Montenegro in 2006, and nine times as Yugoslavia. With the win over Romania, their last game did not matter. The race for second was not close as France ended up seven points clear of Austria. France's 5-0 win over the Faroe Islands officially put them into the playoffs.
Group 8: Winner-Italy: Playoffs-Ireland: Out-Bulgaria, Cyprus, Montenegro, Georgia. World Champion Italy continue the defence of the Cup by winning their group. The Italians clinched their seventeenth World Cup with a 2-2 draw with Ireland on Saturday. Twice the Italians came back to take a point on Erie. That same draw also secured second for the Irish, with the 2-2, Ireland played their last match against Montenegro to a scoreless draw. With second the Irish advance into the playoffs.
Group 9: Winner-Netherlands: Out-Norway, Scotland, Macedonia, Iceland. OK, opening rant: It is COMPLETELY unfair to the teams in the ninth group to only play eight points to qualify. It does not affect the group standings, but when the eight best second place finishers qualify for the playoffs it is a severe disadvantage to the second place team who does not have enough games to collect points to compete with the other second place finishers. Thus, as comes no surprise, the second place finisher did not have the points necessary to compete with the other groups. Netherlands went a perfect 8-0 to qualify for their ninth World Cup. The group was decided by June, and second place Norway only accumulated 10 points in 8 games, which to be fair to UEFA, would not get them in the World Cup in any group.
With the group stages over most of the nations fates are sealed. For the eight second place finishers, the Monday draw will prove to be interesting. FIFA has announced they will seed the drawing, so that the four better teams will each play a weaker team as determined in the ranking. Leaving the Irish upset that FIFA chose to 'fix it so the stronger teams will be in to sell more tickets'. The seeded teams are France, Russia, Portugal, and Greece. Leaving Ireland, Austria, Ukraine, and Bosnia-Herzegovina as the remanding teams. The two-games playoff series will prove to be exciting as the final four of thirteen spots UEFA has in the World Cup will be determined.
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