Germany, Italy en route to S. Africa

Italy scraped a draw against the Republic of Ireland to join Germany, Denmark and Serbia as the latest teams to secure 2010 World Cup places on a drama-laden penultimate batch of qualifiers last night.

This quartet join already-qualified England, Spain and the Netherlands, leaving two automatic berths from the continent still up for grabs heading into Wednesday's last throw of the South Africa dice.

Russia, beaten 1-0 by ten-man Germany in Moscow, and the Republic of Ireland, are among the teams assured of places in November's two-leg play-offs.

France, beaten on penalties in the 2006 final by Italy, are also in the play-offs after routing part-timers the Faroe Islands 5-0 to book second place in Group Seven behind Serbia, who trounced Romania by the same scoreline.

The Irish came desperately close to pulling off a major upset in Dublin as Sean St Ledger headed them into a 2-1 lead with only three minutes to go, only for Alberto Gilardino to level on the whistle.

That put the world champions into an unassailable lead in Group Eight with Ireland as runners-up.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi praised the Azzurri's "great performance".

He added: "If we had lost it would have been a big injustice because we played with passion, character and enthusiasm."

Earlier, three-time world champions Germany ensured their participation in next year's World Cup with a game to spare after a gritty defeat of Guus Hiddink's Russia.

Miroslav Klose's first-half goal booked Germany's ticket with Joachim Loew's team reduced to ten men when Jerome Boateng was sent packing after receiving a second yellow card with 20 minutes remaining.

The win secured top spot for Germany in Group Four ahead of their final qualifier against Finland in Hamburg.

Loew reflected: "The team did well. We needed a bit of luck, but we have made sure of qualifying for the World Cup and you can't ask for more."

Denmark got the better of neighbours Sweden 1-0 to book their ticket as winners of Group One.

The Swedes are in danger of missing out after they were leapfrogged by Portugal in second place after the latter beat Hungary 3-0 in Lisbon.

Goals by Simao Sabrosa and one by Liedson earned Portugal three vital points that put them on the verge of the play-offs. The Portuguese, who lost Cristiano Ronaldo through injury in the first half, must beat Malta on Wednesday to secure the runners-up spot in the group.

Spain, who had already guaranteed their place in South Africa as winners of Group Five, came through their trip to Armenia with a 2-1 win to extend their unbeaten run to nine from nine qualifiers.

Bosnia-Herzegovina secured a play-off berth with a 2-0 win in Estonia to make sure of their position as runners-up to the Euro 2008 champions.

In other action, Switzerland boosted their prospects of making it to the finals with a 3-0 defeat of Luxembourg.

Ottmar Hitzfeld's side are in pole position to qualify as Group Two winners, going into Wednesday three points clear of former European champions Greece.

Group Three is too close to call with Slovakia on 19 points, two ahead of Slovenia, with the same gap ahead of the Czech Republic.