Eight teams celebrated their qualification to the second round of the World Cup while eight others await their fate when the group stage ends tomorrow The final decisive stage of the preliminary round at the one- month competition, which ends tomorrow, started on Tuesday. Eight teams had already confirmed their qualification to the round of 16. Germany, Ecuador, England, Sweden, Argentina, Holland, Portugal and Mexico went into their final stage of the preliminaries sure or almost sure of qualification. Groups E and F terminate their group stages today when the Czech Republic faces Italy in Group E in Hamburg and newcomers Ghana fight for a place against the USA in Nuremberg. In Group F, Japan prepares for a tough task against the defending champions Brazil in Dortmund while Australia plans to join the Latin Americans in the second round at Croatia's expense. The final stages take place tomorrow when another African newcomer, Togo, faces winners France in Cologne and Switzerland takes on South Korea in Hanover in Group G. The Arab world's attention will be focused today on the only two Arab teams representing the region, in the competition's Group H. Saudi Arabia will face the toughest of the group, Spain, in Kaiserslautern while the former African champions Tunisia clashes with the Ukraine in Berlin in the last match of the preliminaries. A last-gasp goal from substitute Oliver Neuville gave Germany their second successive Group A victory against Poland in Dortmund. Germany, who had been frustrated for the vast majority of the match through a combination of poor finishing and excellent goalkeeping from Artur Boruc, were grateful when the Borussia Monchengladbach man side-footed home in the first minute of added time. Ecuador made history by beating Costa Rica 3-0 in Hamburg to qualify for the knockout rounds for the first time. Carlos Tenorio, Agustin Delgado and Ivan Kaviedes scored the goals that secured the South Americans' progress from Group A. Luis Suarez's men did not look back after taking an eight-minute lead through Tenorio's header. Delgado doubled the advantage with a fine near-post finish on 54 minutes and Ivan Kaviedes volleyed the third goal two minutes into added time. Their victory not only meant Ecuador joined the host nation in the second round but also ended Costa Rica and Poland's hopes of advancing. England also secured their place in the next round with a 2-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago but they left it late before strikes from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard. Crouch broke the deadlock in Nuremberg with a headed goal in the 83rd minute and his Liverpool team-mate Gerrard added a superb second in the 91st minute. England, who welcomed back Wayne Rooney as a second-half substitute, have taken six points from their two Group B matches while Trinidad and Tobago remain on one point. Freddie Ljungberg's 88th-minute header earned Sweden a 1- 0 victory over Paraguay in Berlin. Ljungberg's strike leaves the Scandinavians strongly positioned to take second place in Group B, three points above Trinidad and Tobago going into their game against leaders England. For Paraguay, however, the late goal spelt heartbreak, ending their hopes of progressing to the second round. Argentina gave a fearsome show of attacking strength as they swept aside Group C rivals Serbia and Montenegro 6-0 in Gelsenkirchen. Jose Pekerman's team equalled their record World Cup win against Peru from 1978 against opponents they had, coincidentally, dismantled by the same score at the 2004 Olympic football tournament. More importantly, the victory took them a big step closer to the second round, while leaving Serbia and Montenegro's hopes hanging by a thread. The flow of goals began in the sixth minute with Maxi Rodriguez and after Esteban Cambiasso had doubled the lead in the 31st minute, Rodriguez struck again to make it 3-0 10 minutes later. There was no respite for Serbia and Montenegro after the break as, following the dismissal of Mateja Kezman, Hernan Crespo hit Argentina's fourth in the 78th minute. Substitutes Carlos Tevez (84') and Lionel Messi (88') completed the scoring in the final 10 minutes. The Netherlands also booked their place in the second round as goals from Robin van Persie and Ruud van Nistelrooij earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over Côte d'Ivoire in Stuttgart. Their second win in Group C means the Dutch advanced with a game to spare. Côte d'Ivoire, like the Serbo-Montenegrins, can go no further in this tournament but they certainly pushed the Dutch all the way. After Van Persie's 23rd-minute free-kick opener, Van Nistelrooij doubled the Dutch lead four minutes later but the Ivorians hit back through a spectacular Bakary Kone effort and threatened an equaliser on more than one occasion. A brave performance from 10-man Angola saw them hold Mexico to a goalless draw in their Group D meeting in Hanover. Angola, who lie 53 places below El Tri in the world rankings, frustrated the Mexicans due to a combination of some resolute defending and some superb goalkeeping from Joao Ricardo. The Palancas Negras' task was made even harder when they had Andre sent off in the 79th minute, but the African side held firm to register their first ever point in the World Cup. Portugal became the sixth team assured a place in the second round after second-half goals from Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo secured a 2-0 win against Iran. While Portugal were celebrating a second straight win in Group D -- and coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's ninth in succession overall in World Cups -- Iran were left to reflect on what went wrong after their second defeat confirmed their elimination. After a goalless first half in Frankfurt, Deco broke the deadlock with a long-distance strike in the 63rd minute and Ronaldo sealed the victory from the penalty spot with 10 minutes remaining. Italy moved a point clear at the top of Group E after drawing 1-1 with the US in an incident-filled match in Kaiserslautern. Alberto Gilardino headed Italy into a 22nd-minute lead but their lead last only five minutes until Christian Zaccardo turned the ball into his own net. That was the end of the scoring but a minute later the Azzurri lost Daniele De Rossi to the first of three red cards. The USA's Pablo Mastroeni then saw red in the 45th minute and Eddie Pope followed suit two minutes into the second half. The result left both sides in contention before their final games, with Italy top on four points and the USA bottom with one. Newcomers Ghana made history by beating the Czech Republic 2- 0 in Cologne earlier this week. Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari scored the goals that gave Ghana their first win on the world stage at the expense of a Czech side who played the closing stages with 10 men after Tomas Ujfalusi's dismissal. Ghana's triumph is the first for any of the debutantes at Germany 2006 and also the first for any of the five African finalists. Their victory margin might have been greater had Gyan not struck a penalty against the post in the second half. Gyan had earlier opened the scoring in the second minute before Sulley Muntari confirmed their success seven minutes from time. However, bookings here mean both scorers, together with Tomas Lokvenc and the dismissed Ujfalusi from the Czech team, will be suspended for their next matches. Defending champions Brazil secured their second round place after overcoming a tough challenge from Australia with a 2-0 win in Munich. The World Cup holders took the lead four minutes into the second half through Adriano but they had to survive one or two nervy moments before substitute Fred sealed the victory with a tap-in the 90th minute. Brazil's second Group F win confirmed their advance to the second round with a game to spare, while Australia are well poised to join them, holding a two-point advantage of Japan and their next opponents Croatia. It was a story of frustration for Japan and Croatia as they played out a goalless draw in Nuremberg. The pivotal moment of the match came in the 22nd minute when Japan goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi saved Darijo Srna's penalty, although Croatia were also breathing a sigh of relief when Atsushi Yanagisawa missed when it seemed easier to score early in the second half. The result left Japan rooted to the foot of Group F with one point and Croatia ahead only on goal difference in third place. It will hardly help the mood in either camp that both teams will be without key players for their third matches after Japan captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto and Croatia's Robert Kovac collected their second yellow cards of the tournament. Korea Republic fought back to earn a 1-1 draw with France as Park Ji-Sung cancelled out Thierry Henry's first-half opener in Leipzig . The point put the Koreans top of Group G, at least until the end of the Togo and Switzerland match in Dortmund. The evening began promisingly for Les Bleus when Thierry Henry scored their first World Cup goal since the 1998 final with nine minutes on the clock. However, South Korea drew level when Park bundled the ball over the line in the 81st minute. To compound France's disappointment, Eric Abidal and Zinedine Zidane both collected bookings which rule them out of their final group game against Togo. Switzerland surged to top their group with a convincing 2-0 win over Togo in Dortmund on Monday, which leaves the Helvetians leading the section on goal difference. Victory was secured by goals from Alexander Frei and Tranquillo Barnetta in the 16th and 88th minute respectively, the second of which took Kobi Kuhn's side clear of South Korea by a single goal. All the Swiss now need is a point against Dick Advocaat's Taeguk Warriors to guarantee their place in the last 16. Togo, though impressive in flashes, could have few complaints at surrendering all three points, and Otto Pfister's side remain without a point and anchored to the bottom of a group in which Switzerland and Korea both lead on four points from France, who have two. A second-half turnaround saw Spain come from behind to register a 3-1 over Tunisia in Stuttgart and consequently book their place in the second round. The African team got off to a great start when Jaouhar Mnari opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Roger Lemerre's side held the lead until half-time when his counterpart Luis Aragones made a bold double substitution. Luis Garcia and Marcos Senna were replaced by Raul and Cesc Fabregas and the pair were extremely influential in Spain's equalising goal. With 71 minutes gone, Fabregas' shot was parried by Ali Boumnijel and into the path of Raul who gratefully slotted the ball home. A brace from Fernando Torres, taking his tally in the tournament to three, gave Spain the victory. It leaves them on top of Group H, three points clear of their nearest challengers Ukraine and five points clear of Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. Ukraine made amends for their disappointing start to Group H when they defeated Saudi Arabia 4-0 in Hamburg on Monday. Oleg Blokhin's side, who had suffered defeat by the same scoreline to Spain in their opening match, looked desperate to make amends in this match and began in the best possible manner. Andriy Rusol fired Ukraine ahead in the fourth minute, while a Serhiy Rebrov wonder strike doubled their advantage on 36. Andriy Shevchenko headed a third just seconds after the restart, while Budweiser Man of the Match Maksym Kalinichenko got the goal his performance deserved six minutes from time.
