ExtraFootie's Sam Berkeley treads the globe to bring you all the action from the final World Cup qualifiers, including huge controversy in Paris as the Republic of Ireland suffered extra time heartbreak.

With six places in South Africa next summer up for grabs there were a series of crunch encounters to decide the last of the qualifiers, with the final match between Uruguay and Costa Rica still to come later on Wednesday night.

France 1-1 Republic of Ireland (aet) (2-1 agg.): A scandalous handball from Thierry Henry dumped the luckless Irish out of the World Cup despite a lionhearted performance at the Stade de France.

The Boys in Green dominated utterly for 90 minutes, taking the lead when Robbie Keane slid home from Damien Duff's superb cross to cancel out France's aggregate lead.

John O'Shea, Damien Duff and Keane all missed golden opportunities in the second half to win the tie outright but in the end extra time was needed to decide the qualifer and after referee Martin Hansson correctly waved away Nicolas Anelka's claims for a penalty, controversy struck.

Henry arrived at the back post from a free-kick and knocked the ball back into play with a blatant handball before crossing for William Gallas to score but the referee and his assistants awarded the goal despite Ireland's furious protests.

The French did their best to waste time to the finish and despite their best efforts the Irish were eliminated in the most unjust of circumstances.

Bosnia-Herzegovina 0-1 Portugal (0-2 agg.): Portugal survived the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and a hostile crowd to produce a fine away performance to edge qualification after what had just months earlier seemed a disastrous campaign.

Dominating from start to finish, Raul Meireles and Nani were both denied superbly by Bosnian keeper Kenan Hasigic before Meireles' second half shot from Simao Sabrosa's cross had the tie all but won.

Any outside chance Bosnia had of a first World Cup appearance evaporated when Sejad Salihovic got himself sent off for dissent with 15 minutes remaining.

Slovenia 1-0 Russia (2-2 agg.): Underdogs Slovenia shocked Guus Hiddink's Russia to qualify at their expense with a deserved win in Maribor as the distraught Russians lost their heads, seeing two men sent off.

In the end, Nejc Pecnik's late away goal on Saturday proved crucial, since it meant Zlatko Didic's neat strike from Valter Birsa's cross put them ahead on the away goals rule.

Slovenia had squandered earlier chances, Milivoje Novakovic shooting straight at Igor Akinfeev right at the start and Sergei Ignashevich chesting the ball into his own post.

Substitute Alexander Kerzhakov lost his head late on, kicking out at Slovenia's keeper and getting dismissed, while Chelsea's Yuri Zhirkov picked up his second yellow card late on. Defeat means that Arsenal genius Andrey Arshavin will sadly not get the chance to strut his stuff on the biggest stage of all.

Ukraine 0-1 Greece (0-1 agg.): Euro 2004 champions Greece produced an exceptional away performance in Donetsk to reach just their second ever World Cup.

Dimitris Salpigidis scored the game's only goal, keeping his cool to slot home after being played through by Giorgios Samaras.

The Ukrainians had multiple chances to score but Andriy Shevchenko missed a golden opportunity, while Greece keeper Alexandros Tzorvas produced a string of fine saves to keep his side ahead.

Algeria 1-0 Egypt: In an unbelievably competitive encounter in Sudan, underdogs Algeria booked their first World Cup appearance since 1986 at the expense of continental champions Egypt.

Antar Yahia's wonder goal was the difference in a fiery encounter, which saw the first booking handed out after just 56 seconds!

With shades of Marco Van Basten in the Euro 88 final, the centre-back leathered in a volley off the underside of the bar from an almost impossible angle to send the Desert Foxes to South Africa.

Egypt, considered Africa's best side, had plenty of chances to equalise but Algeria keeper Fawzi Chaouchi pulled off a string of reflex saves to deny the Pharaohs time and again and spark pandemonium in the stands at the final whistle.