Defending champion Italy and three-time winner Germany were among four European nations to qualify for the World Cup Saturday. Denmark and Serbia also made it to next year's championship in South Africa, while group leaders Switzerland and Slovakia were left to wait until the last round of qualifying games Wednesday. Meanwhile, already-qualified England's winning streak was ended at eight games after a 1-0 loss at Ukraine, and 2006 runner-up France was left to seek a place in the playoffs. It looked as if Italy would need to go to the final round of games to clinch qualification after Sean St. Ledger headed Ireland 2-1 ahead with three minutes to go in Dublin. But Alberto Gilardino equalized for Italy to guarantee finishing top of Group 8. Ireland now hopes it will get a spot through the playoffs. Germany qualified for the World Cup for the 17th time with a 1-0 victory over Russia. Forward Miroslav Klose scored his 50th international goal and seventh in his past seven games to clinch top spot in Group 4 for his team. Although defender Jerome Boateng was sent off for a second yellow card in the 68th minute, the Germans held on for a victory in Moscow that gives them an unassailable four-point lead. The Russians have the consolation of the runners-up spot and a likely place in the two-legged playoffs. Serbia beat Romania 5-0 helped by two goals from Milan Jovanovic. That put the team out of reach at the top of Group 7, with France runner-up despite beating the Faeroe Islands 5-0. Andre Pierre Gignac scored two first-half goals for the French, who are four points behind the Serbs. Denmark qualified after a 1-0 victory over Sweden in Copenhagen. Jakob Poulsen scored the only goal at Parken Stadium, where the Danes have not lost a World Cup qualifier since 1981. The loss for Sweden meant it was overtaken into second place by Portugal, which beat Hungary 3-0 with Simao Sabrosa scoring twice to move a point ahead of the Swedes. England had already joined the Netherlands and Spain in reaching next year's tournament from European qualifying, but hoped to go to South Africa after winning all 10 group games. Its run ended after a deflected 29th-minute strike by Serhiy Nazarenko from 20 meters beat substitute goalkeeper David James. Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko had earlier hit a penalty against the post after goalkeeper Robert Green had been sent off. Ukraine's victory means it climbed above Croatia into second place in Group 6. The eight best runners-up in the nine groups will go into the playoffs, with second-place Norway in Group 9 expected to miss out. Switzerland is closer to qualifying after a 3-0 victory over Luxembourg in Group 2, helped by two early headed goals by Phillipe Senderos. But Greece, with four goals from Theofanis Gekas, stayed within three points with a come-from-behind 5-2 win over Latvia. Israel moved up to third and stayed in contention for a playoff spot with a 3-1 victory over Moldova. European champion Spain made it nine wins out of nine with a 2-1 victory in Armenia, fielding largely a backup team. A first-half goal by Cesc Fabregas and a second-half penalty by Juan Mata captured three more points for the Spaniards. Bosnia-Herzegovina, which has never played in the World Cup, guaranteed second place in Group 5 with a 2-0 victory at Estonia after goals by Edin Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic. Slovakia's hopes of qualifying for the first time were hit by a 2-0 loss at home to Slovenia in Group 3. A draw would have put the Slovaks through, but they are now only two points ahead of Saturday's opponent going into Wednesday's games.
