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France leads 5 more qualifiers into World Cup
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France, with a controversial extra-time goal from William Gallas, squeezed into the World Cup finals despite failing to beat Ireland in Paris while Slovenia upset Russia on a nailbiting night of qualifiers on Wednesday.
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France progressed after a 1-1 draw with Ireland gave the 2006 finalists a 2-1 aggregate victory but they needed Gallas’s close-range goal -- after a blatant Thierry Henry handball in the build-up -- to win the tie. The French go through to next year’s extravaganza in South Africa along with Slovenia, Greece, Portugal and Algeria, which beat archrivals Egypt 1-0 in neutral Sudan to win a tense sudden-death playoff to secure the final African qualifying berth. Uruguay struggled to tame Costa Rica before booking their place in the World Cup finals with a 1-1 draw at home in the second leg of their South America/CONCACAF playoff. The Uruguayans went through 2-1 on aggregate after winning the first leg in San Jose on Saturday.
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REUTERS
LONDON
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Benzer Haberler 
International
