Israel cling to World Cup dream
The result means they can still nick second spot if France suffer a shock defeat to Cyprus on Wednesday, just to further complicate the picture.
Elsewhere in Europe on Saturday night, Holland’s victory against the Czech Republic in Prague has returned the Dutch to the World Cup finals after missing out in 2002.
Holland’s 2-0 win confirmed Marco van Basten’s men as group winners and meant England were guaranteed qualification as one of the two best runners-up.
The Czechs slipped to third in Group One behind Romania, who beat Finland 1-0 with Adrian Mutu’s penalty and must now win in Finland on Wednesday to finish second.
Three-times winners Italy booked their place in the finals with a 1-0 home win over Slovenia to win Group Five, Cristian Zaccardo netting the only goal. Norway earned a 1-0 win at home to Moldova, putting them five points clear of Scotland with one game left.
Spain are poised for at least a play-off berth after a 2-0 win over Belgium in Brussels, thanks to asecond-half double from Fernando Torres.
To top Group Seven they must beat San Marino and hope Bosnia-Herzegovina can defeat Serbia and Montenegro, who won 2-0 in Lithuania with goals from ex-Chelsea striker Mateja Kezman and Portsmouth midfielder Zvonimir Vukic.
Bosnia are a point behind Spain in third after an Elvir Bolic’s hat-trick saw off San Marino 3-0.
Croatia qualified with a 1-0 win over Sweden in Zagreb, which means the worst they can do is finish as one of the two best second-placed sides.
Sweden, two points back, are alsolikely to qualify without recourse to a play-off, with only the Czechs ableto deny them the second ‘bestrunners-up’ spot.
In Group Three, Portugal confirmed their place in the finals with a 2-1 home win against Liechtenstein, who took a shock half-time lead through Benjamin Fischer. Pauleta equalised and, after Luis Figo had missed a penalty, Nuno Gomes got the winner.
Slovakia beat Estonia 1-0 while Russia hammered Luxembourg 5-1 in Moscow to leave both sides on 22 points and playing each other on Wednesday.
There is a three-way battle for second in Group Two as Denmark beat Greece 1-0 to move a point behind Turkey, who stayed second despite not playing.Greece need both sides to slip up and beat Georgia to snatcha play-off spot. Ukraine, alreadyqualified in top spot, drew 2-2 at home to Albania.
Africa will send four first-time qualifiers to the finals after a dramatic climax to the continent’s section. The tiny west African state of Togo sewed up qualification with a 3-2 win at Congo, ousting 2002 quarter-finalists Senegal.
It was a happy day for Chelsea’s Michael Essien and Didier Drogbaas Ghana and the Ivory Coast also qualified, the latter at theexpense of Cameroon while Nigeria were denied as a 1-0 win in Rwanda, which booked Angola’s passage to Germany, courtesy of a better head-to-head record.
Charlton defender Talal ElKarkouri’s own goal gave Tunisia the point they needed to qualify ahead of Morocco.
Paraguay and Ecuador booked their places from South America and Paulo Wanchope sent Costa Rica on their way from North and Central America with a goal in the 3-0 win over already-qualified USA.
In the Asian play-off first leg, Bahrain drew 1-1 in Uzbekistan. The winners will play the fourth-placed side from North and Central America.
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