<p>Diego Maradona's Argentina, having beaten Peru 2-1 at home in torrential rain, go to Montevideo on Wednesday to defend an automatic berth in the South Africa finals against a Uruguay side that turned the tables on Ecuador. <br /><br />Ecuador had started the day in fourth place but their 2-1 home defeat by Uruguay left them sixth before Wednesday's visit to Chile, who took South America's third berth with a 4-2 victory in Colombia. <br /><br />Brazil, who play a dead rubber away to Bolivia on Sunday, and Paraguay, whose 2-1 away win over Venezuela put them level on points with Dunga's side at the top of the group, had already qualified. <br /><br />Maradona called veteran striker Martin Palermo a miracle man after his goal two minutes into stoppage time gave Argentina victory on a sodden Monumental pitch. Forlan converted a penalty with the last kick of the game in Quito to give Uruguay their victory after recovering from a goal down but coach Oscar Washington Tabarez was quick to tell his players the job was not yet done. <br /><br />Uruguay must win to swap places with Argentina and qualify for their first finals since 2002, sending their cross-river neighbours into the playoff against the team that finishes fourth in the CONCACAF region. <br /><br />Ecuador, though, are not out of the running. Argentina (25 points) could even miss out altogether if Uruguay (24) and Ecuador (23) win on Wednesday. <br /><br />Mexico, US cruise <br /><br />Mexico cruised into the World Cup finals and the United States battled their way to a spot in South Africa in CONCACAF qualifying on Saturday, leaving Costa Rica and Honduras to scrap it out for the third automatic place. <br /><br />Mexico, inspired by 36-year-old Cuauhtemoc Blanco, crushed El Salvador 4-1 in front of over 100,000 fans at the Azteca stadium. United States, who trailed 1-0 in Honduras, had an unlikely match-winner in forward Conor Casey, who struck twice as Bob Bradley's team came from behind to win 3-2 at Honduras. With one round of games to go, the United States lead on 19 points, with Mexico on 18, Costa Rica on 15 and Honduras on 13.<br /><br />World Cup qualifying results<br /><br />Results: South America: Argentina: 2 (Gonzalo Higuain 48, Martin Palermo 90+) bt Peru: 2 (Hernan Rengifo 90); Venezuela: 1 (Alexander Rondon 86) lt to Paraguay: 2 (Salvador Cabanas 55, Oscar Cardozo 79); Colombia: 2 (Arturo Vidal 13 (OG), Giovanni Moreno 63) lt to Chile: 4 (Waldo Prince 35, Humberto Suazo 36, Jorge Valdivia 72, Fabian Orellana 79); Ecuador: 1 (Luis Valencia 67) lt to Uruguay: 2 (Luis Suarez 69, Deigo Forlan 90+).<br />Europe: Greece: 5 (Theofanis Gekas 4th, 47th Pen, 57th, 90+), Georgios Samaras 73rd) bt Latvia: 2 (Maris Veroakovskis 12th, 40th); Israel: 3 (Elyaniv Barda 22nd, 70th, David Ben Dayan 65th) bt Moldova: 1 (Denis Calincov 90th); Armenia: 1 (Robert Arzumanyan 58th) lt to Spain: 2 (Cesc Fabregas 33rd, Juan Manuel Mata 64th Pen); France: 5 (Andre-Pierre Gignac 34th, 39th, William Gallas 53rd, Nicolas Anelka 86th, Karim Benzema 88th) bt Faroe Islands: 0; Portugal: 3 (Simao 18th, 79th, Liedson 74th) bt Hungary: 0; Belgium: 2 (Emile Mpenza 8th, 84th) bt Turkey: 0; Czech Republic: 2 (Tomas Necid 51st, Jaroslav Plasil 72nd) bt Poland: 0; Slovakia: 0 lt to Slovenia: 2 (Valter Birsa 56th, Nejc Pecnik 90th); Serbia: 5 (Nikola Zigic 37th, Marko Pantelic 50th, Zdravko Kuzmanovic 78th, Milan Javanovic 86th, 90+) bt Romania: 0; Austria: 2 (Marc Janko 16th, Roman Wallner 80th Pen) bt Lithuania: 1 (Marius Stankevicius 66th); Denmark: 1 (Jakob Pouslsen 79th) bt Sweden: 0; Liechtenstein: 0 bt Azerbaijan: 2 (Vagif Javadov 55th, Elvin Mammadov 82nd); Cyprus: 4 (Konstantinos Charalampidis 11th, 20th, Michael Konstantinou 58th, Efstathios Aloneftis 78th) bt Bulgaria: 1 (Dimitar Berbatov 45th); Ukraine: 1 (Sergiy Nazarenko 29th) bt England: 0; Russia: 0 lt to Germany: 1 (Miroslav Klose 34th); Estonia: 0 bt Bosnia-Herzegovina: 2 (Edin Dzeko 32nd, Vedad Ibisevis 62nd); Montenegro: 2 (Radoslav Batak 13th, Andrija Delibasic 78) bt Georgia: 1 (; Vladimir Dvalishvili 45th); Belarus: 4 (Maksim Bordachev 23rd, Timofei Kalachev 69th, 90+), Leonid Kovel 86th) bt Kazakhstan: 0; Luxembourg: 0 bt Switzerland: 3 (Philippe Senderos 6th, 8th, Benjamin Huggel 22th); Finland: 2 (Roni Porokara 5th, Niklas Moisander 77th) bt Wales: 1 (Craig Bellamy 17th).<br />North America: Costa Rica 4: (Radanfah Abubakr 27th OG; Walter Centeno 50th, Alvaro Saborio 61st, 63rd) bt Trinidad and Tobago: 0; Honduras: 2 (Julio De Leon 46th, 77th) lt to USA: 3 (Conor Casey 54th, 65th, Landon Donovan 71st); Mexico: 4 (Marvin Gonzalez 25th OG, Cuauhtemoc Blanco 71th, Francisco Palencia 84th, Carlos Vela 90+) bt El Salvador: 1 (Julio Martinez 88th).<br />Africa: Cameroon: 3 (Geremi 32, Jean Makoun 47, Achille Emana 52) bt Togo: 0; Gabon: 3 (Hicham Mahdoufi 45 (OG), Eric Mouloungui 67, Daniel Cousin 72) bt Morocco: 1 (Adel Taarabt 89); Malawi: 1 (Jacob Ngwira 64) drew Ivory Coast: 1 (Didier Drogba 67); Zambia: 0 lt to Egypt: 1 (Hosny Abd Rabo 68).<br />Oceania: Bahrain: 0 drew New Zealand: 0.</p>
<p>Diego Maradona's Argentina, having beaten Peru 2-1 at home in torrential rain, go to Montevideo on Wednesday to defend an automatic berth in the South Africa finals against a Uruguay side that turned the tables on Ecuador. <br /><br />Ecuador had started the day in fourth place but their 2-1 home defeat by Uruguay left them sixth before Wednesday's visit to Chile, who took South America's third berth with a 4-2 victory in Colombia. <br /><br />Brazil, who play a dead rubber away to Bolivia on Sunday, and Paraguay, whose 2-1 away win over Venezuela put them level on points with Dunga's side at the top of the group, had already qualified. <br /><br />Maradona called veteran striker Martin Palermo a miracle man after his goal two minutes into stoppage time gave Argentina victory on a sodden Monumental pitch. Forlan converted a penalty with the last kick of the game in Quito to give Uruguay their victory after recovering from a goal down but coach Oscar Washington Tabarez was quick to tell his players the job was not yet done. <br /><br />Uruguay must win to swap places with Argentina and qualify for their first finals since 2002, sending their cross-river neighbours into the playoff against the team that finishes fourth in the CONCACAF region. <br /><br />Ecuador, though, are not out of the running. Argentina (25 points) could even miss out altogether if Uruguay (24) and Ecuador (23) win on Wednesday. <br /><br />Mexico, US cruise <br /><br />Mexico cruised into the World Cup finals and the United States battled their way to a spot in South Africa in CONCACAF qualifying on Saturday, leaving Costa Rica and Honduras to scrap it out for the third automatic place. <br /><br />Mexico, inspired by 36-year-old Cuauhtemoc Blanco, crushed El Salvador 4-1 in front of over 100,000 fans at the Azteca stadium. United States, who trailed 1-0 in Honduras, had an unlikely match-winner in forward Conor Casey, who struck twice as Bob Bradley's team came from behind to win 3-2 at Honduras. With one round of games to go, the United States lead on 19 points, with Mexico on 18, Costa Rica on 15 and Honduras on 13.<br /><br />World Cup qualifying results<br /><br />Results: South America: Argentina: 2 (Gonzalo Higuain 48, Martin Palermo 90+) bt Peru: 2 (Hernan Rengifo 90); Venezuela: 1 (Alexander Rondon 86) lt to Paraguay: 2 (Salvador Cabanas 55, Oscar Cardozo 79); Colombia: 2 (Arturo Vidal 13 (OG), Giovanni Moreno 63) lt to Chile: 4 (Waldo Prince 35, Humberto Suazo 36, Jorge Valdivia 72, Fabian Orellana 79); Ecuador: 1 (Luis Valencia 67) lt to Uruguay: 2 (Luis Suarez 69, Deigo Forlan 90+).<br />Europe: Greece: 5 (Theofanis Gekas 4th, 47th Pen, 57th, 90+), Georgios Samaras 73rd) bt Latvia: 2 (Maris Veroakovskis 12th, 40th); Israel: 3 (Elyaniv Barda 22nd, 70th, David Ben Dayan 65th) bt Moldova: 1 (Denis Calincov 90th); Armenia: 1 (Robert Arzumanyan 58th) lt to Spain: 2 (Cesc Fabregas 33rd, Juan Manuel Mata 64th Pen); France: 5 (Andre-Pierre Gignac 34th, 39th, William Gallas 53rd, Nicolas Anelka 86th, Karim Benzema 88th) bt Faroe Islands: 0; Portugal: 3 (Simao 18th, 79th, Liedson 74th) bt Hungary: 0; Belgium: 2 (Emile Mpenza 8th, 84th) bt Turkey: 0; Czech Republic: 2 (Tomas Necid 51st, Jaroslav Plasil 72nd) bt Poland: 0; Slovakia: 0 lt to Slovenia: 2 (Valter Birsa 56th, Nejc Pecnik 90th); Serbia: 5 (Nikola Zigic 37th, Marko Pantelic 50th, Zdravko Kuzmanovic 78th, Milan Javanovic 86th, 90+) bt Romania: 0; Austria: 2 (Marc Janko 16th, Roman Wallner 80th Pen) bt Lithuania: 1 (Marius Stankevicius 66th); Denmark: 1 (Jakob Pouslsen 79th) bt Sweden: 0; Liechtenstein: 0 bt Azerbaijan: 2 (Vagif Javadov 55th, Elvin Mammadov 82nd); Cyprus: 4 (Konstantinos Charalampidis 11th, 20th, Michael Konstantinou 58th, Efstathios Aloneftis 78th) bt Bulgaria: 1 (Dimitar Berbatov 45th); Ukraine: 1 (Sergiy Nazarenko 29th) bt England: 0; Russia: 0 lt to Germany: 1 (Miroslav Klose 34th); Estonia: 0 bt Bosnia-Herzegovina: 2 (Edin Dzeko 32nd, Vedad Ibisevis 62nd); Montenegro: 2 (Radoslav Batak 13th, Andrija Delibasic 78) bt Georgia: 1 (; Vladimir Dvalishvili 45th); Belarus: 4 (Maksim Bordachev 23rd, Timofei Kalachev 69th, 90+), Leonid Kovel 86th) bt Kazakhstan: 0; Luxembourg: 0 bt Switzerland: 3 (Philippe Senderos 6th, 8th, Benjamin Huggel 22th); Finland: 2 (Roni Porokara 5th, Niklas Moisander 77th) bt Wales: 1 (Craig Bellamy 17th).<br />North America: Costa Rica 4: (Radanfah Abubakr 27th OG; Walter Centeno 50th, Alvaro Saborio 61st, 63rd) bt Trinidad and Tobago: 0; Honduras: 2 (Julio De Leon 46th, 77th) lt to USA: 3 (Conor Casey 54th, 65th, Landon Donovan 71st); Mexico: 4 (Marvin Gonzalez 25th OG, Cuauhtemoc Blanco 71th, Francisco Palencia 84th, Carlos Vela 90+) bt El Salvador: 1 (Julio Martinez 88th).<br />Africa: Cameroon: 3 (Geremi 32, Jean Makoun 47, Achille Emana 52) bt Togo: 0; Gabon: 3 (Hicham Mahdoufi 45 (OG), Eric Mouloungui 67, Daniel Cousin 72) bt Morocco: 1 (Adel Taarabt 89); Malawi: 1 (Jacob Ngwira 64) drew Ivory Coast: 1 (Didier Drogba 67); Zambia: 0 lt to Egypt: 1 (Hosny Abd Rabo 68).<br />Oceania: Bahrain: 0 drew New Zealand: 0.</p>
