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Updated Friday, November 20, 2009 10:35 am TWN, AP

France qualifies for World Cup on contentious goal

France's Yoann Gourcuff, right, challenges Ireland's Glenn Whelan in their World Cup qualifying playoff return leg match at the Stade de France stadium in Saint Denis near Paris, ...

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France qualifies for World Cup on contentious goal

Uruguay, a former two-time champion, earned the final World Cup berth, drawing with visiting Costa Rica 1-1 to win 2-1 overall. Sebastian Abreu scored for Uruguay on a header in the 70th minute, but Walter Centeno equalized in the 74th.

Costa Rica will miss the World Cup for the first time since 1998. The Ticos were seconds from qualifying last month when they allowed an injury time goal in a 2-2 draw against the United States, dropping them behind Honduras into fourth place in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Egypt, whose only World Cup appearances were in 1934 and 1990, forced its playoff by beating Algeria 2-0 with an injury-time goal in Cairo last Saturday that left the Pharaohs even atop Africa Group C and set off several violent outbursts.

The embassy and sites of Egyptian businesses such as Egypt Air and telecom group Orascom were attacked on Saturday. Several Algerian players had been injured before the match in Cairo as Egypt fans pelted Algeria's team bus with rocks.

Security was stepped up near the Egyptian Embassy in the Algerian capital, Algiers, but there were no signs of violence. The streets of Algiers quickly filled with celebrating citizens, some setting off fireworks. Traffic came to a standstill in the center of town, and Algerians also hit the streets in Paris, Marseille and the Gaza Strip.

Qualifiers Spain, the Netherlands and Italy were among the teams in friendly action, while Germany drew 2-2 with Ivory Coast in its first game since the suicide of 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.

The Germany players paid tribute to Enke in an open letter before the game, calling him a “good friend whose death brought us a little bit closer together.”

Enke killed himself eight days ago after suffering for years from depression. Germany canceled another friendly against Chile last week out of respect.

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

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