Moscow, Russia (My Sportsbook) - Miroslav Klose scored his 50th international goal in the 35th minute, helping Germany top Russia 1-0 on Saturday to qualify for next year's World Cup.
Defending World Cup champion Italy, Denmark and Serbia also qualified, leaving just two group winners in UEFA undecided entering the last matchday Wednesday.
Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Ireland and Russia secured second in their groups, and will compete for berths next month in two-match, home-and-home playoffs of eight of the nine second-place group finishers.
England, the Netherlands and Spain had World Cup berths secured entering the weekend.
At Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Germany's Mesut Ozil worked a give-and-go with Lukas Podolski, with Ozil sending the return pass to Klose at the edge of the six. Klose finished from close range, driving the ball by Igor Akinfeev.
Germany held on for its eighth win in nine qualifiers despite losing Jerome Boateng to a red card in the 68th minute. Germany will finish atop Group 4 and Russia has second secured, despite the loss.
At Dublin, Alberto Gilardino scored in the 90th minute as Italy rallied for a 2-2 tie against Ireland and first place in Group 8. Ireland settles for second place, despite an undefeated mark in qualifying.
At Copenhagen, Jakob Poulsen scored in the 79th as Denmark edged Sweden 1-0 to continue its unbeaten run in Group 1 and earn its first Cup berth since 2002.
At Lisbon, Simao scored two goals to lead Portugal to a 3-0 win over Hungary and into second place in Group 1 ahead of Sweden. Cristiano Ronaldo played for Portugal, but left the match in the first half due to injury. Portugal would secure second with a win over winless Malta on Wednesday.
At Belgrade, Milan Jovanovic scored two goals as Serbia routed Romania 5-0 to clinch the top spot in Group 7. At Paris, Andre-Pierre Gignac scored twice as France crushed the Faroe Islands 5-0 to lock up second in Group 7.
In Group 2, Philippe Senderos scored twice as Switzerland beat Luxembourg 3-0 to remain atop the group. Greece got four goals from Theofanis Gekas to defeat Latvia 5-2 and remain in second, while Israel's Elyaniv Barda scored two times in a 3-1 win over Moldova that kept his country in contention for second.
Switzerland leads by three points, with Greece two ahead of Israel and three ahead of Latvia.
In Group 3, Robert Koren and Nejc Pecnik scored to lead Slovenia to a huge 2-0 win at group leader Slovakia, which still remained in first and can finish no worse than second. Slovenia moved to second and needs a victory at winless San Marino to secure at least second.
Tomas Necid and Jaroslav Plasil scored to lead the Czech Republic to a 2-0 win over Poland and into third in Group 3, two off Slovenia.
In Group 5, Cesc Fabregas and Mata scored as Spain continued its perfect run through qualifying with a 2-1 win over Armenia, while Bosnia-Herzegovina got goals from Edin Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic in a 2-0 win over Estonia to secure a playoff berth.
In Group 6, Serhiy Nazarenko scored in the 29th to lead Ukraine to a 1-0 win over 10-man England. Ukraine moved one point ahead of Croatia into second, and just needs a win over winless Andorra on Wednesday to secure that spot.
Group 9 already wrapped up, with the Netherlands the easy winner, while Norway waits to see if it makes the playoffs as one of the second-place finishers.
