Greece qualified for a major tournament for only the second time in their history with a 1-0 defeat of Northern Ireland enough to win the group and consign Spain to the ignominy of the play-offs.
Sammy McIlroy was forced to look on as Greece began to party through the night after clinching a place in the finals with a narrow victory. But Northern Ireland manager McIlroy would have been proud of his team, who refused to cave in. The turning point came in the 69th minute when George McCartney was sent off and Vassilis Tsartas scored the winner from the penalty spot.
The Spaniards won 4-0 in Armenia with two goals from Jose Antonio Reyes in three minutes and one each from Raul and Juan Valeron.
Denmark had Everton midfielder Thomas Gravesen sent off in stoppage time and could only draw 1-1 with Bosnia but still won Group Two. Norway completed a Scandinavian 1-2 ahead of Romania by beating 1-0 Luxembourg with a goal from Tore Andre Flo.
Latvia secured their best ever finish since gaining independence with second place and a play-off berth after a 1-0 win in Stockholm. Sweden had already done enough to win the group and they lost their first game of the campaign with Maris Verpakovskis netting the only goal of the campaign in the 23rd minute. The visitors lost Dzintars Zirnis to a red card in the second half but held on to take the win.
The result rendered the meeting between Hungary and Poland, who both harboured play-off ambitions this weekend, meaningless. For the record Andrzeg Niedzieland scored twice as the Poles won 2-1 in Budapest.
Germany claimed top slot in Group Five and automatic qualification after a comfortable 3-0 win over Iceland at the AOL Arena in Hamburg. Goals from Michael Ballack, Fredi Bobic and Kevin Kuranyi earned the Germans a victory which guaranteed them top spot and helped Scotland into the play-offs after their 1-0 win over Lithuania.
Filed by Johnny Proby
