Henry hands France WC berth

Associated Press

LONDON: France scored a contentious extra-time goal to secure a 1-1 draw against Ireland on Wednesday to qualify for the World Cup alongside Portugal, Slovenia, Greece, Algeria and Uruguay.

France was heading to a 1-0 loss and penalty shootout when captain Thierry Henry slapped the ball with his hand to stop it going out of play and again to set it up for a cross that William Gallas headed in to secure the draw. The goal means France, the 1998 World Cup winner and 2006 runner-up, won 2-1 over two legs following Saturday’s 1-0 win in Dublin — which they only secured with the help of a big deflection off an Ireland defender.

Portugal and world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo will be at the World Cup after a 1-0 win at Bosnia, Slovenia beat Russia 1-0 to win their two-legged playoff on away goals and Greece won 1-0 at Ukraine to advance by the same score. Algeria beat Egypt 1-0 to take Africa’s fifth and final qualifying spot, while Uruguay qualified with a 1-1 draw with Costa Rica.

South America’s Uruguay won the two-legged playoff tie against North and Central America’s Costa Rica 2-1 on aggregate. Sebastian Abreu opened the scoring for Uruguay in the 70th minute. Walter Centeno got the equaliser in the 74th. Uruguay, winner of the title in 1930 and 1950, had put themselves on the road to South Africa with a 1-0 victory in Costa Rica on Saturday. They return to the World Cup for the first time since 2002.

France had looked shaky despite holding a 1-0 lead going into the game but had an extra-time goal by Sidney Govou ruled out for offside before he scored. The referee and his assistants failed to spot an offside as France played a 104th-minute free kick into the area, but the ball seemed to be bouncing harmlessly wide of the goal until Henry controlled it with his hand.

Gallas headed in from close range and the referee waved away protests from goalkeeper Shay Given and his Ireland teammates that Henry had cheated. Ireland had looked more menacing for much of the game and led through Robbie Keane’s 41st international goal.

Portugal qualified for their third straight World Cup 2-0 on aggregate after defender Raul Meireles scored with a low shot in the 56th from Nani’s pass. Striker Zlatko Dedic scored Slovenia’s winning goal a minute before halftime, shooting past goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev from a pass by Valter Birsa. Slovenia secured a 2-2 draw over two legs and qualifies courtesy of Nejc Pecnik’s 87th-minute goal in Saturday’s 2-1 loss in Moscow.

Greece qualified for their second World Cup appearance and first since 1994 after striker Dimitrios Salpigidis scored in the 31st in Donetsk. The 2004 European champions advanced 1-0 on aggregate after the teams drew 0-0 in the first leg in Athens.

Algeria became the fifth African team to qualify with a 39th-minute goal from an unlikely source. Defender Antar Yahya took advantage of a defensive lapse by Egypt to score from an acute angle with a right-footed volley that went in off the underside of the crossbar. The win secured Algeria’s first World Cup appearance since 1986 and again showed Egypt’s inability to carry their impressive form in Africa into the world’s premier tournament. The Algerians follow Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana in qualifying, while South Africa has a spot as host.

Qualifiers Spain, the Netherlands and Italy were among the teams in friendly action on Wednesday, while Germany drew 2-2 with Ivory Coast in their first game since the suicide of national team goalkeeper Robert Enke last week.

David Villa scored twice to lead European champion Spain to a 5-1 win at Austria, Giorgio Chiellini earned Italy a 1-0 win over Sweden and the Netherlands drew 0-0

with Paraguay. Lukasz Podolski scored the first and last goals of

the match to earn Germany a draw, while Emmanuel Eboue and Seydou Doumbia scored for the African team.

Also, Denmark rallied to beat the United States 3-1, Serbia ended South Korea’s 27-match unbeaten run with a 1-0 win in London, and Bulgaria won 4-1 at Malta.

Qualified teams

Europe: Netherlands, England, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, Italy, Switzerland, Slovakia, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, France.

Asia: Japan, Australia, South Korea, North Korea

Africa: South Africa (as hosts), Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria

South America: Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay

North America: Mexico, United States, Honduras

Oceania: New Zealand