14 more teams earn spots in 2006 World Cup

A Tunisian man celebrates as his national team was qualified for next year's World Cup finals after a qualifying match against Morocco at the Rades Stadium in Tunis, Tunisia, on Saturday, Oct. 8 2005. The game ended in a 2-2 draw.

Fourteen more teams qualified for next year's World Cup, with England, Italy and the Netherlands leading the way in Europe. Three other European teams also made it on Saturday - Portugal, Croatia and Poland - while Ukraine and host Germany had already advanced.

All five African spots were also filled, with Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Angola qualifying for the first time. Tunisia claimed the final spot from the region.

Also, Paraguay and Ecuador joined already-qualified Brazil and Argentina from South America, while Costa Rica beat the United States 3-0 to earn the third berth out of CONCACAF. Mexico and the United States have already qualified.

Carlos Hernandez scored twice in the second half for Costa Rica.

"We're in Germany, by God," Costa Rica coach Alexandre Guimaraes said.

"We wanted to look at different combinations of players," said U.S. coach Bruce Arena, who didn't bring many of the top Americans to San Jose. "We did achieve that."

Four Asian teams - Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea - have already qualified for the tournament.
 

(Agencies)