French defender William Gallas scored the equalizer that gave his country the World Cup 2010 ticket during their deciding qualifying match against Republic of Ireland at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, northern Paris.
The former champions France made the last cut Wednesday after the dramatic 1-1 draw with the Republic of Ireland. They thus triumph in the two-legged tie 2-1.
Also, Uruguay finished the job, qualifying for the 2010 World Cup with another 1-1 draw against Costa Rica.
The South American side had gained the upper hand in their play-off against North and Central America’s Costa Rica with a 1-0 victory at San Jose on Saturday and duly wrapped up the 32nd and final spot in the 2010 finals in South Africa.
Their victory on a 2-1 aggregate sends the Uruguayans back to the World Cup finals for the first time since 2002 – where they will seek to add to the titles they won in 1930 and 1950.
The crowd of 18,000 at Estadio Centenario had an agonizing wait through seven minutes of stoppage time, after the match was halted for five minutes when Costa Rica substitutes got embroiled in a sideline scuffle with some television reporters with 10 minutes remaining.
For Uruguay it was a third straight qualifying play-off. They qualified to Korea-Japan in 2002 by beating Australia, the same opponents who beat them for a 2006 berth.