Soccer: Playoffs joy for Ireland at last

TEHRAN - Ireland buried their playoff jinx by qualifying for next year's World Cup finals despite a 1-0 loss to Iran.

The Irish, knocked out three times in the 1990s in playoffs for major tournaments, became the 31st of the 32 teams to qualify for the finals in South Korea and Japan.

The visitors took a 2-0 advantage from the first leg into the match and kept Iran in check for most of the first half, except for a chance in the 34th minute.

Ali Karimi met a bouncing ball about eight metres out and headed just wide.

But in the second half, Mick McCarthy's side needed a superb diving save from keeper Shay Given in the 55th minute when Karim Bagheri struck a low shot from outside the area.

Iran won back some pride by scoring in injury time through Yahya Golmohammadi.

They qualified for the 1998 finals in a playoff against Australia after coming back from 2-0 down in the second leg in Melbourne. Ireland missed out that year after appearing in the 1990 and 1994 finals.

Australia play Uruguay in a two-legged playoff to decide the last qualifier.

The 31 countries heading for the finals:

Holders: France. Co-hosts: South Korea, Japan.

Europe: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey.

South America: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay.

Africa: Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia.

North, Central America andf Caribbean: Costa Rica, Mexico, United States.

Asia: China, Saudi Arabia.