51.   France won two matches and drew one to qualify from Group B with Spain.

52.   Frenchman Troussier said Japan now had a genuine chance of qualifying from the Group H which also includes Tunisia and Russia.

53.   IR Iran qualified from group five, which also featured Oman, Sri Lanka and Nepal, with the maximum points from six matches.

54.   Ireland are involved in a straight shoot-out with South Africa to decide who qualifies from Group Three.

55.   A win for Croatia over neighbouring Slovenia is a must if they hope to qualify from group one for France next year.

56.   Also trying to qualify from the zone are Uruguay and Chile.

57.   Before the tournament, Tunisia were not expected to qualify from their group which consisted of Ghana, Ivory Coast and Mozambique.

58.   Britain, Spain and Malaysia were the other teams to qualify from Barcelona.

59.   Brown is quietly confident that his side can maximise limited resources and qualify from the Group A which contains England, Holland and Switzerland.

60.   Egypt and Algeria, the nations expected to qualify from Group Four, boosted their chances with easy home victories over Sudan and Ethiopia respectively.