Four more sides make it to the World Cup

Argentina, Slovakia, Switzerland and Honduras are the latest national teams to book their ticket to South Africa and there are just nine more places left. Six more participants will be decided through play-offs, while we are still waiting for Cameroon, Tunisia and Algeria to ensure their place at the World Cup. All the aforementioned teams had to wait until the final round before the celebrations could begin, which just proves how interesting this qualifying campaign has been.

Argentina were on the verge of missing out on the first World Cup after 40 years but they stepped up the plate and won the final two games, although things could have easily gone the other way. After Palermo saved them against Peru, Los Albicelestes were thought to be heading for a draw in Uruguay after surviving some heavy pressure from the hosts, but then Mario Bolatti won them the three points thanks to the predatory finish in the box. You can imagine Maradona’s reaction.

Slovakia missed two match points as they failed to beat Czech Republic and Slovenia at home but Lady Luck smiled on them as 1:0 win in Poland ensured them the first place in the group. The visitors were in for a difficult task as they entered the game without four first team regulars, while the match was played in dreadful conditions. Slovakians were pegged back to their own half for most of the game but own goal from Seweryn Gancarczyk brought them the much needed win and the celebrations could begin.

Switzerland recovered well from the poor start of the qualifying campaign and the great run of results saw them dislodge Greece from the top. Otmar Hitzfeld’s team needed just one point from the home game against Israel and they dully delivered, although they made their fans sweat throughout the match as they just couldn’t score a goal to put the tie beyond doubt. This is, nevertheless, a big success for the Swiss.

Honduras also clinched their place at the World Cup in the final round, but they needed a big smile from the Lady Luck. They did their part of the job with a hard-earned victory over El Salvador away, but they also needed Costa Rica not to win away to USA. Honduras looked as though they would face Uruguay in the play-offs as Costa Rica were leading 2:0 going into the final 20 minutes, but Bradley reduced the deficit midway through the second half, before Jonathan Bornstein leveled the score in the fourth minute of injury time and the party could begin in Honduras.

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