Soccer International 1

Guus Hiddink has been hailed over the last decade as a Dutch Master, working wonders at the last two World Cups with South Korea and Australia, respectively.

Wednesday in Maribor, Slovenia, Hiddink's luck finally ran out as his Russian team was stunned by Slovenia 1-0, to advance after the two-leg UEFA playoff ended 2-2. Slovenia gets through on the basis of its away goal scored in the closing minutes Saturday in Moscow.

For Slovenia, it's the nation's first trip to the World Cup since 2002.

Wednesday's World Cup playoff between Algeria and Egypt immediately brought to mind the famous quote from legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankley, "Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that."

For the 34,000 inside Al Merreikh Stadium in Omdurman, Sudan, and millions in the countries themselves, the 90-minute match was a crucible of pressure. The tension was only heightened by rioting, stone throwing and a group of Algerians setting fire to the offices of Egypt Air in Algiers due to long-standing animosity between the two North African nations.

Though the match itself wasn't an all-time classic, the external factors made Algeria's eventual 1-0 victory one of the more memorable images of soccer in 2009, typified by keeper Faouzi Chaouchi celebrating atop his net after the full-time whistle.

Guus Hiddink's Russia looked about ready to start calling a travel agent to book its arrangements for South Africa in June. The Russians held a comfortable 2-0 lead against Slovenia in Saturday's UEFA playoff in Moscow thanks to a pair of goals from Everton's Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.

To Slovenia's credit, the World Cup hopefuls didn't stop charging and its effort paid off when substitute Nejc Pecnik headed home a rebound from a shot by Robert Koren to make it finish 2-1. For Slovenia it was a crucial away goal as the two-leg playoff heads to Maribor on Wednesday.

Carlos Queiroz has always been an interesting character. Heck, anyone that coached the New York/New Jersey Metrostars and lived to tell about it deserves a special place in the history of world soccer.

Saturday, the now coach of the Portugal national team, made a move that will certainly make headlines one way or the other as he plans to call in injured superstar Cristiano Ronaldo for the upcoming two-leg UEFA World Cup playoffs against Bosnia-Herzegovina. (Portugal will announce its full lineup on Sunday.)

The official U.S. roster hasn't been released yet for the U.S. National Team's upcoming European friendlies against World Cup qualifiers Slovakia and Denmark, but Goal.com is reporting that Edgar Castillo will be selected for the squad by coach Bob Bradley.

Castillo, who has played his entire career in Mexico, originally declared his intentions to play for El Tri despite the fact he was born in New Mexico. A new tweak in the FIFA rules allowed Castillo to switch allegiances since he never appeared for Mexico in an "official match."

Update: Follow France vs. Ireland live blog.

Most of the intrigue that could have resulted from Monday's draw for the second-place playoffs for the final four 2010 World Cup berths from Europe was eliminated when it was decided the eight remaining nations would be broken up and seeded via their FIFA ranks near the end of the qualification process.

So instead of creating some possible Cinderella scenarios from smaller nations like Slovenia or Bosnia-Herzegovina would have a good chance to qualify for their first World Cup, the underdogs now face an uphill battle. This is no more the case than for the Republic of Ireland, which must played a wounded, yet still very dangerous France team next month.

In a very unsurprising development, AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani declared that the club is "95 percent" finished on bringing back David Beckham to the club in January on loan. Galliani went as far as to call it a "done deal."

Unlike last year when there was a lot of alarm and acrimony when Beckham announced his intentions to play somewhere else during the break in the MLS season, this time there doesn't seem to be too much problem that he'll be away from the Los Angeles Galaxy for a period of time after the 2009 season wraps in November.

For one day, at least, Diego Maradona can silence his critics and get the last laugh.

Lampooned, mocked and second-guessed throughout Argentina's nearly disastrous 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, Maradona can let out a massive sigh of relief after Wednesday's 1-0 win against Uruguay in Montevideo, Uruguay. Argentina gains the fourth and final automatic CONMEBOL qualifying spot, while Uruguay moves into the playoff against either Costa Rica or Honduras.

It's hard to imagine a scenario where the date Oct. 14, 2009 doesn't become the stuff of lore in the European country of Slovakia as it turned out to be the day the nation booked its place in its first FIFA World Cup finals.

And the Slovaks achieved history in perhaps the most adverse conditions possible in a soccer match, downing Poland 1-0 at the Silesian Stadium during a driving snowstorm that would seem more at home for an NFL playoff match than a World Cup qualifier.

The puzzle pieces for the 2010 FIFA World Cup became a lot clearer on Saturday on the penultimate day of UEFA qualification. Longtime stalwarts Germany and Italy both punched their tickets, while Denmark and Serbia also booked passage to South Africa next June.

Germany was the first European country to qualify on Saturday, defeating Russia 1-0 in what was essentially a first-place Group 4 playoff game in Moscow. The Germans held on with 10-men after a first-half goal from Miroslav Klose. Meanwhile, Guus Hiddink's Russia must now await its fate in the second-place playoffs. For the Germans, it's the country's 15th-straight World Cup finals berth and 17th overall placing it second to Brazil. (These streaks include time as West Germany.)