England, inspired by a superb performance from Beckham, drew 2-2 with Greece at Old Trafford with their most famous player securing England’s place in the 2002 finals with a heart-stopping free kick in the third minute of stoppage time.
That goal secured England the one point they needed to win the group and came four minutes after Germany’s match with Finland ended in a 0-0 draw in Gelsenkirchen.
For those few minutes, three times winners Germany were topping the group and had one foot in the finals, but Beckham’s goal condemned them to a playoff against Ukraine next month.
Russia strolled into the finals for the first time since 1994 thanks to a hat-trick from Vladimir Beschastnykh who spearheaded their 4-0 win over Switzerland in Moscow.
Yegor Titov completed the scoring for Russia who topped group one with 23 points.
Slovenia finished second after their 3-0 win over the Faroe Islands and will now face Italy or Romania in the playoffs.
Ukraine reached the playoffs for the second successive qualifying competition when they drew 1-1 with already-qualifed Poland in group one in Chorzow.
It might have been a very different outcome in group nine if Germany’s Oliver Bierhoff had scored midway through the second half instead of blasting his volley straight at Finnish goalkeeper Antti Niemi. He also hit the woodwork twice.
Greece, who had never beaten England and only scored one goal against them, stunned England when they went ahead through Angelos Charisteas after 36 minutes.
Teddy Sheringham made it 1-1 just seconds after coming on as a 68th minute substitute, but Greece regained the lead almost immediately when Demis Nikolaidis took advantage of sloppy England defending to make it 2-1.
With seconds running out and England facing a trip to Ukraine, the home side were awarded a free kick 25-metres out and the England skipper curled the ball around the wall into the Greek net.
England and Germany both finished their Group Nine campaigns with 17 points, but England finished top on goal difference.
In Chorzow, Emmanuel Olisadebe put Poland ahead after 40 minutes, and Andriy Shevchenko’s ninth goal of the campaign gave Ukraine the point that secured their berth.
Belarus could have finished second if they had beaten Wales, but they lost 1-0 as Wales won for the first time in 12 matches with a header from John Hartson, and finished third.
None of the other early results had a bearing on the qualifying or playoff places, but Yugoslavia ended their group one campaign with a 6-2 win over Luxembourg after trailing 2-1 at one stage.
Norway brought their disappointing group five campaign to a winning end with a 4-1 victory over Armenia.
Eleven other matches were being played later on Saturday which will produce another four qualifiers.
Collated results:
Group one:
Yugoslavia 6 Luxembourg 2
Russia 4 Switzerland 0
Slovenia 3 Faroe Islands 0
Group five
Wales 1 Belarus 0
Armenia 1 Norway 4
Poland 1 Ukraine 1
Group nine
Germany 0 Finland 0
England 2 Greece 2
Starting later in the day (kickoff time in GMT)
Group two
Netherlands v Andorra (1830) Arnhem
Portugal v Estonia (1700) Lisbon
Ireland v Cyprus (1700) Dublin
Group three
Czech Republic v Bulgaria (1815) Prague
Denmark v Iceland (1815) Copenhagen
Malta v Northern Ireland (1600) Valletta
Group four
Moldova v Turkey (1815) Chisinau
On Sunday
Macedonia v Slovakia (1700) Skopje
Sweden v Azerbaijan (1400) Stockholm
Group six
Croatia v Belgium (1600) Zagreb
Scotland v Latvia (1600) Glasgow
Group eight
Italy v Hungary (1845) Parma
Romania v Georgia (1845) Bucharest
Group seven (on Sunday)
Bosnia v Liechtenstein (1815) Zenica
Israel v Austria — postponed
HONG KONG: They weren’t convincing, but they were effective.
Saudi Arabia and Iran did what they needed to and that was to ensure that wins over Iraq and Thailand respectively would send their Asian qualifying Group A for next year’s World Cup right down the last day.
The Saudis, who have made it to the last two World Cup finals, defeated Iraq 2-1 in neutral Amman to reclaim top spot with 14 points with one game to play.
Iran beat Thailand 1-0 in Tehran earlier on Friday taking temporary charge of the top spot.
However, although they are two points adrift of the Saudis, Iran have a game in hand and could clinch overall control of the group by beating Iraq in Tehran next Friday.
If they pull it off, it will mean they would take a one point lead into the final day on October 19 when they travel to Bahrain while the Saudis entertain Thailand.
The Saudis got off to a flying start in the Jordanian capital on Friday night taking the lead after just thirty seconds courtesy of Abdullah Sheehan.
It followed a cool build-up following the kick-off as Mohamed al Shlhoob’s pass was tucked away at close range by Sheehan who left goalkeeper Saad Nasser no chance.
However, Iraq, who went into the match with an outside hope of claiming the runners-up spot, equalised after 31 minutes when Abdulwahab Aboulhail headed home a right wing cross from Hawar al Mollah past Mohamed al Daeyea in the Saudi goal.
The Iraqis, forced to play in Amman because of the Saudis’ refusal to travel to Baghdad, almost took the lead after 55 minutes when Qahtan Chatir hit the crossbar. Then Imad Mohamed saw his long range effort fly just over the crossbar.
But the Saudis grabbed the winner when Sheehan latched on to a through ball from Ibrahaim Mater to score from close range in the 77th minute.
Earlier, Iran beat Thailand 1-0 in Tehran in a match which marked the 100th international appearance of Iranian striker Ali Daei.
Iran put on a feast of attacking football in front of 50,000 fans and to the sound of beating drums.
Despite having a host of goalscoring chances, their single goal came from a superb shot from Ali-Vahedi Nikbakht in the 33rd minute.
The Iranians had five opportunities to add to their lead before half-time. Two shots, including a thundering 30-yard effort from Hertha Berlin player Daei, hit the crossbar.
The Thais, coached by former England international Peter Withe, had to rely on counter-attacks but they were unable to get back into the game which slowed in the second half.
Only the winners of the two Asian groups qualify automatically for next year’s finals in South Korea and Japan. The runners-up in each group will play off on a home-and-away basis with the winner qualifying to play the runners-up from European zone Group Two - either Portugal or the Republic of Ireland.
China have all but wrapped up Group B - they just need one point at home to Oman on Saturday night to confirm their first ever appearance in the World Cup finals.
Their task was made easier on Thursday night when the United Arab Emirates beat Qatar 2-1 in Doha to throw the race for the runners-up spot wide open with the two Gulf teams vying for the play-off spot along with Uzbekistan.—Reuters/AFP