, Greece and
.
France, the 1998 champions and 2006 runners-up, drew 1-1 with
here in the second leg of their play-off for a 2-1 aggregate win.
to head in the crucial 103rd-minute goal.
Ireland, who had deservedly levelled the tie through Robbie Keane's 32nd-minute goal and were unfortunate not to win in regulation time, protested desperately, but in vain, to match referee
.
“Yes, there was a hand, but I'm not the referee,” said Henry. “Of course, I kept playing. The referee didn't whistle for handball. I was behind two Irish players, the ball bounced and it hit my hand.”
The Barcelona star insisted that the controversy, which prompted Irish players to declare they were robbed of a
place, would not take the gloss of his team's qualification.
“No, no. We have qualified.”
was furious.
“You could see the referee hesitate and look at Henry. He could have asked him what he thought. If the referee had asked Henry, he would have said: 'Yes, it was handball',” said the Italian.
was adamant that his country had been cheated.
: “We got robbed, you can tell by the boys' reaction it hit his hand blatantly.
“We feel cheated – we were the better team over the two legs, every fan in the stadium will say we were the better team tonight.”
Meanwhile, in Zenica, a 56th-minute strike by
through to the finals 1-0 on the night and 2-0 on aggregate.
and slipped a low, precise shot past Kenan Hasagic in the Bosnian goal to settle the tie.
“These marathons are only over after the final whistle and I want to thank my players for showing such spirit,” said
, who was once again without the injured
, the world's most expensive player.
Bosnia, trying to reach the
for the first time, had midfielder Sejad Salihovic red-carded late in the game while a linesman was struck by an object thrown from the crowd.
, who famously took
to the 2002 semi-finals, will be missing from
beat his Russian side 1-0 in Maribor to qualify on the away goals rule.
Striker Zlatko Dedic scored the only goal just before the break.
had won the first leg 2-1 in Moscow on Saturday, but Nejc Pecnik's goal two minutes from time gave Slovenia hope for Wednesday's return and they seized their chance to reach their first finals since 2002.
were both red-carded.
“My team have continued the Slovenian football fairytale,” said Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek. “They have become immortal.”
In Donetsk, Greece beat Ukraine 1-0 to book a
place for the first time since 1994.
Panathinaikos striker Dimitris Salpingidis netted the only goal of the match for the 2004 European champions following Saturday's 0-0 draw in the first leg in Athens.
In total, 13 European nations will play in the 32-team World Cup finals with the draw set for
on December 4.
Netherlands, England,
, Germany,
,
, champions Italy,
,
, Greece, Slovenia,
and France make up Europe's representation.