The semi finals start tomorrow and are heavily dominated by Europe. Having suggested only a week ago that the South American teams were doing so well the dominance by one continent at the World Cup has again shifted.

Uruguay are now the only remaining South American country in the World Cup. Their quarter final with Ghana had everything you want from a game of football (as a neutral) in the last two minutes. A red card; a dramatic last kick-of-the-game penalty; a penalty missed; and then the agony and ecstasy of a penalty shootout. Asamoah Gyan was a matter of inches from sending Uruguay out of the World Cup. Luis Suarez, who has had an impressive World Cup will miss the semi-final after ‘cheating’ or ‘taking one for the team’ – depending which camp you sit in. The winning penalty from Sebastian Abreu had an element of class about it as he dinked it over the goalkeeper. Luck seems to be with Uruguay, so should it be a surprise if they go on to beat the Netherlands tomorrow?

The Dutch got to the semi finals by knocking out Brazil. Whenever there is a World Cup, Brazil are fancied. For me, this Brazilian team didn’t have enough about them. Kaka was poor; they missed the injured Elano; and I couldn’t help but think that when they needed a goal or something different, if only they had Ronaldinho or Pato on the bench. Credit to the Dutch though. After a poor first half, they played fantastically in the second half. They seemed to suit the fact that Brazil lost their attacking discipline and men behind the ball meant Brazil just couldn’t break them down. Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben have both demonstrated that they are of vital importance to the Dutch side. Sneijder in particular is pulling the strings and in the year he won the domestic treble, the World Cup final is just a game away now.

The other semi final is an all European affair. Spain against Germany. Spain were a lot of people’s pre-tournament favourites, including myself. They were the last team to get through to the quarter finals and then the last team to progress from the quarter finals. They beat Paraguay to get to the semi finals in a game that will be remembered for three penalties in two minutes. First, Cardozo of Paraguay saw his penalty saved by Casillas; a minute later a penalty awarded to Spain was scored by Xabi Alonso; Alonso’s penalty had to be retaken and then was saved by Villar. Spain snuck through thanks to one goal from David Villa – who is proving to be worth every penny Barcelona have paid for him. Spain are yet to find any real rhythm and with Torres misfiring both they and he have got this far playing averagely. It therefore doesn’t bode well for Germany that Spain are due a performance.

Germany in some ways have been the surprise package at this tournament. They’ve played the best football and in doing so they demolished England and Argentina convincingly. There is no doubting that they are the form team. Their victory over Argentina in particular was impressive. Lead by Schweinsteiger they made sure that Argentina’s 20 years of hurt continues for at least another four. Germany’s tactical discipline in keeping their shape and having specific player roles will be tested like never before against Spain. Germany’s tactics so far have been to press the ball and opposition players hard and relatively high up the pitch. That is what Spain like, they like to draw a team out and pass around them. Whether Germany try to repeat the same tactics remains to be seen but if they aren’t careful they may just play themselves right into Spanish hands.

Europe is guaranteed at least one finalist. An all European final would mean that only for the second time in history there would be consecutive all European World Cup finals (the last time was 1934 and 1938). This year, after a slow start the matches are hotting up at the right time – roll on the semi finals…

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1998 World Cup winners France have qualified for their fourth successive World Cup finals after a controversial 2-1 victory (on aggregate) over the Republic of Ireland, who last qualified for the tournament in 2002. Thierry Henry appeared to stop the ball with his left hand before brushing it back into his path to cross for William Gallas to score.

The Irish should feel extremely hard done by after a brave battling performance in front of the Parisian crowd. Robbie Keane gave Ireland the lead in the first half after some good work down the left hand side involving Damien Duff. Duff had a chance to double the lead in the second half but his right footed shot was easily saved by Hugo Lloris. Robbie Keane also had another chance but ran the ball out of play when surely a trademark chip over the keeper was needed.

The main talking point will be about Henry’s handball to setup William Gallas. Henry gained legend status at Arsenal before leaving for Barcelona in the summer of 2007. He will go down as one of the greatest forwards of his generation, however there is sure to be uproar in the forthcoming weeks. The handball played an enormous part in the outcome of the game and put the French through to South Africa next year.

Ireland’s Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni was clearly distraught at the incident and spoke after the game: “I am not only disappointed, I am also sad. It is a bitter evening. It’s a bitter situation. I would prefer to have gone out on penalties. I am sad because the referee had time to ask the linesman. I am sure he should have, and he could have confirmed it was handball. I am upset. We speak many times about fair play. I go to schools and speak about fair play. I speak with the young kids about sport. Its important in life. Everybody saw the game. You know what happened.”

Internazionale striker Samuel Eto’o scored in a 2-0 victory over Morocco to secure Cameroon’s place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Cameroon, who reached the quarter finals in 1990, are joined by Ghana – who are celebrating the second successive qualification for the finals – and Nigeria, who last qualified for the finals in 2002. Ivory Coast are the other African nation to qualify for the finals.

Cameroon’s World Cup campaign didn’t get off to a flying start but the victory on Saturday secured their place in the finals for a record sixth time for an African country. Achille Webo struck after seventeen minutes and then the formidable Eto’o scored seven minutes into the second half, which left Morocco rock bottom of the group and win less. Eto’o goal was his ninth in eleven qualifying appearances.

Ghana, who were already through to the finals after qualification in September, drew with Mali 2-2 on Saturday after goals from Matthew Amoah and Anthony Annan in the second half. Ghana were trailing 1-0 at half time but should good character to get back in the game and finish top of the group with thirteen points. Nigeria cliched their place in South Africa after a nail biting finish to their game with Kenya. The super Eagles trailed 1-0 at half time before hitting back in the 62nd minute through Obafemi Martins and then took the lead on the 65th minute through Everton striker Aiyegbeni Yakabu. Kenya equalized in the 79th minute before Martins grabbed a second four minutes later. Nigeria’s victory put Tunisia into 2nd place and out of the World Cup. Tunisia had led the group but lost their final game to Mozambique 1-0 and gifted Nigeria qualification.

France take a 1-0 lead to Paris for next week’s playoff second leg after Nicolas Anelka scored in the 71st minute to give Les Blues a priceless victory in Dublin. France will be without Barcelona defender Eric Abidal and Lyon midfielder Jeremy Toulalan due to injury, however the French Football Federation announced that there won’t be any replacements called up.

France, who won the World Cup in 1998 and finished runners up in 2006, will be confident that they can see of the Irish, who were so close to qualifying outright but conceeded a late equalizer to current World Champions Italy last month. French coach Raymond Domenech spoke to a press conference but played down any thoughts that the tie was over: “I feel we are only halfway through. The objective is to qualify. There are 180 minutes. Ninety to go. The Irish played very well and are very much able to react so we must be vigilant.”

Ireland captain and Spurs striker Robbie Keane was a bit more upbeat about the challenge that the Irish face in Paris. The striker added “The one (chance) that counted has cost us (but) they got lucky with that goal which was a deflection. We have to believe we can go there and win”. Ireland failed to make the cut in 2006 but reached the last sixteen in 2002 – narrowly losing out to Spain on penalties. Ireland will be hoping that they can emulate Scotland’s performance in 2007 when James McFadden scored in a 1-0 victory in Paris. France will still be without Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery but will still expect to reach the finals with a forward line consist of Thiery Henry, Karim Benzema and Yoann Gourcuff.

France booked their place in next month’s playoffs with a 3-1 victory over Austria. The 1998 World Cup winners boasted a strike force mixed of the two Spanish giants – Real Madrid (Benzema) and Barcelona (Henry) – who both scored against the Austrians. France struggled in the World Cup 2006 qualifying rounds – until the old guard of Claude Makelele, Lillian Thuram and Zinedine Zidane helped push Les Blues to the final in Berlin.

Real Madrid’s £30Million striker Karim Benzema opened the scoring with a diving header after an excellent Florent Malouda cross on the 17th minute mark and Les Blues captain Thierry Henry doubled the advantage with a penalty after defender Fanni was blocked in the box. Austria’s man in demand Marc Janko reduced the deficit for the visitors early in the second half before French substitute striker Andre-Pierre Gignac sealed the win with a superb angled shot on 66 minutes.

Raymond Domenech was under pressure having lost the opening World Cup qualifying game 3-1 in Austria – but has helped steer France to a playoff place and keep their World Cup dream alive. France have qualified for the past three tournaments, winning the trophy in 1998, going out in the first round in 2002 and losing in the final to Italy in 2006. However, there was a moment of confusion in the closing stages when two spectators invaded the pitch and had to be removed by security – but make no mistake – Les Blues will be confident that they can qualify for the finals.

Cristiano Ronaldo-less Portugal slaughtered Malta 4-0 to reach the playoffs of the World Cup qualifying stage. Sweden and Portugal went into the final game with a chance of reaching the playoff stage – with Denmark qualifying on Saturday having beaten their Scandinavian rivals 1-0. Sweden last failed to qualify for the finals in 1998.

Winger Luis Nani set Portugal on their way with a left-footed shot and another three goals from Simao, Veloso and Edinho saw them clinch second place in Group One with 19 points, two points behind group winners Denmark but one point ahead of Sweden. The Portuguese can now look forward to a two legged playoff match on 14th and 18th of November. At one stage Portugal looked like they would struggle to qualify having only won one of their first five qualifiers.

Malta were unable to mount any type of attack in the first half and were punished in the thirteenth minute by with a shot from outside the box after a pass from playmaker Deco. Simao scored just on the stroke of half time – giving the Portugal, who finished third in the 1966 World Cup Finals, a sustainable lead. Sporting Lisbon’s Veloso scored the third on 52 minutes whilst Edinho rounded off the rout in injury time. Portugal should have World player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo back for the playoffs.

Brazilian forward Ronaldinho saved AC Milan from another defeat and even more questions being thrown at under pressure manager Leonardo – who has had a torrid start to his managerial decision. The Brazilian came off the bench to strike six minutes from time to earn a 1-1 draw at 10 man Atalanta.

The rookie manager was given a vote of confidence in midweek by chief executive Adriano Galliani after the 1-0 defeat at home to FC Zurich in the Champions League. Leonardo will be hoping that the Ronaldinho’s goal will help kick start the Rossoneri’s season having dropped down to twelfth position – and face Real Madrid in the Champions league in two weeks. The Milan manager’s side showed the same initial nerves against joint-bottom Atalanta, who took the lead midway through the first half when Simone Tiribocchi swept the ball home inside the box. The hosts then had Ivan Radovanovic sent off, rather harshly, on 39 minutes for two bookings but Milan still laboured to find a goal – until the Brazilian came on.

Neighbours Internazionale currently top the table by a single point over high fliers Sampdoria – who have played a game less. Roberto Donadoni is also under pressure at Napoli after his side lost 2-1 to an injury hit Roma – with Roman captain Francesco Totti scoring both goals. Serie A takes a break for two weeks for the penultimate round of World Cup qualifying games – with the Azzurri traveling to Dublin to face the Republic of Ireland in a crucial World Cup qualifying match. An Italian win or draw will guarantee a place in next year’s finals – however fellow countryman Giovanni Trapattoni is aiming to take Ireland to their first World Cup finals since 2002.

England, Spain and Paraguay booked their place at the 2010 World Cup Finals last night after victories in their qualifying groups. England thrashed Croatia, which many touted as a revenge mission – after England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, 5-1 with goals from Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and a tap in Wayne Rooney. Spain cruised past Estonia whilst Paraguay beat Argentina who have now dropped outside the qualifying spot.

England and Spain join Holland as the European qualifiers, whilst Paraguay join Brazil as the current South American qualifiers. Out of the 32 teams, so far, eleven nations have qualified for the first World Cup to be held in continent if Africa. No African nation has ever lifted the World Cup, whilst Brazil are the only country to lift the World Cup in another continent than their own.

Portugal also kept their faltering World Cup hopes alive with a 1-0 victory over surprise package Hungary in Budapest – with Real Madrid defender Pepe scoring the only goal of the game. Cameroon also kept their World Cup dreams alive after a 2-1 victory over Gabon who now top the group. Wayne Rooney leads the European goal scoring charts with 9 goals whilst David Villa comes in second with seven.

Egypt could well be appearing at the World Cup for the first time since 1990 after a 3-0 win over Rwanda in capital city Cairo. Egypt had to win before an expectant crowd of approximately 35,000 fans and midfielders Hosny Abd Rabou and Mohamed Aboutrika, who scored a brace, scored the goals. Egypt have had a remarkable summer so far having troubled Brazil and claiming victory over world champions Italy last month at the FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009.

The win lifted the reigning African champions from last place in Group C to second, level on four points with Zambia but three adrift of Algeria at the halfway stage of the final qualifying phase. Rwanda have only one point in the race to finish first and qualify for the world cup next summer. The competition between African nations has been fierce as the World Cup next summer will be the first time the tournament is hosted in Africa.

*Group C table – 7th July 2009

Former German number one, Jens Lehmann, could well be recalled to the German national side for the 2010 World Cup finals. Lehmann last played for Germany in the 1-0 defeat to Spain in the final of the Euro 2008 final.

The 39 year old former Arsenal keeper played in the 2006 World Cup, helping his country to a semi final place, eventually losing to Italy in extra time. Lehmann recently signed an extension to his contract at VfB Stuttgart.

The 39 year old former Arsenal keeper played in the 2006 World Cup, helping his country to a semi final place, eventually losing to Italy in extra time. Lehmann recently signed an extension to his contract at VfB Stuttgart. However Andreas Koepke, the Germany goalkeeping coach, ruled out such a move – as it sends out the wrong message.

Loew was quoted as saying “Jens is a very ambitious goalkeeper and his career has always been marked by clear targets. It is for him a personal target and motivation to be there in 2010 at another major tournament and I fully understand that. We have absolute trust in our current keepers. So for this reason, Jens Lehmann is not an issue now.”