France, Sweden and Serbia reach World Cup finals

Former champions France, Sweden and Serbia & Montenegro sealed their places in next year's World Cup finals on a tense last night of European qualifying on Wednesday.

There was also cause for celebration in Norway, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland, the six teams who will be in next month's European playoffs.

But there was little to cheer in Athens as Greece's hollow 1-0 win over Georgia could not prevent the European champions being eliminated in Group Two.

Denmark were also eliminated in Group Two, Turkey winning 1-0 in Albania to take second place behind Ukraine and to reach the playoffs.

Coincidentally Denmark failed to make the 1994 World Cup two years after they were crowned European champions, the same fate to befall the Greeks.

Bahrain took a step nearer their first World Cup finals with a win over Uzbekistan on away goals in the Asian playoff.

A 0-0 draw in Manama put Bahrain through after Saturday's replayed first leg ended 1-1 in Tashkent.

Uzbekistan originally won the first leg 1-0 but world soccer's governing body FIFA declared the result void after a refereeing error.

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Bahrain now face Trinidad & Tobago in a two-legged playoff with a place in Germany the prize for the winners.

Trinidad stunned Mexico 2-1 to render Guatemala's game against Costa

Rica meaningless.

The South American playoff went to Uruguay, who edged Argentina 1-0 to take fifth spot in the 10-team group ahead of Chile and Colombia.

Uruguay will meet Australia over two legs next month in the final inter-continental playoff.

Twenty-seven of the 32 qualifiers are now known with 10 teams heading into the five two-legged playoffs to be played on November 12 and 16.

FRANCE TRIUMPH

France, who could have been a major casualty if results elsewhere in the section had gone against them, instead powered their way to first place in the highly-competitive Group Four which had captured the imagination of fans and mathematicians for weeks.

The permutations of who could finish where were endless and going into Wednesday's final two games, Switzerland, Ireland, Israel and France were all in with a chance of advancing.

In the end France's 4-0 win over Cyprus in Paris and Switzerland's 0-0 draw with Ireland in Dublin meant the French qualified directly for the finals and the Swiss went into the playoffs.

France (20 points), Switzerland (18) and Israel (18) completed the qualifiers unbeaten, with the Israelis unlucky to miss out because of an inferior goal difference compared to the Swiss.

SERBIA SURVIVE

While France go through to the finals for the 12th time in their history, Serbia & Montenegro, carved out of the old Yugoslavia, will be there for the first time after winning an emotional match 1-0 against Bosnia, another post-Yugoslavia creation.

The only goal came from Mateja Kezman after seven minutes and both sides lived on their nerves for the next 80-odd minutes until Serbia went through.

That result eliminated Bosnia and meant Spain, despite beating San Marino 6-0, must take part in the playoffs for the second competition in a row after coming through the same route to reach Euro 2004.

Sweden were the third direct qualifiers on the night, sealing their place thanks to a 3-1 home win over Iceland who scored first in Stockholm.

The Swedes came back strongly to win and finish second in Group Eight behind Croatia, qualifying along with Poland as the two best runners-up in the tournament.

Poland, who started the day as Group Six leaders, ended in second place after losing 2-1 to England at Old Trafford to give Sven-Goran Eriksson's team top spot.

PLAYOFF PLACES

Turkey, surprise World Cup semi-finalists in 2002, will also attempt to qualify for next year's finals through the playoffs after their 1-0 win in Albania ended the hopes of Greece and Denmark.

The Czech Republic also took their place in the playoffs, a 3-0 win in Finland dashing Romania's dreams of holding on to second place in Group One.

Netherlands, who won the group with their 2-0 win in Prague on Saturday, finished the campaign unbeaten with a 0-0 home draw against Macedonia.

The Czechs came second, two points clear of Romania, following their win in Helsinki. Neighbours Slovakia also reached the playoffs after a 0-0 draw with Russia who were eliminated in Group Three.