Japan, Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Argentina became the first teams to qualify for the World Cup finals on Wednesday -- a year and a day before they kick off in Munich next summer.
Asia's 'Big Four' all made sure of their places in the draw for the finals in Leipzig on December 9 with convincing wins across the continent.
Joining those four and Germany, automatically qualified as the host nation, were Argentina, after they beat Brazil 3-1 in their top-of-the-table South American qualifier in Buenos Aires.
The victory guaranteed them a top four finish in the 10-team group and a place in the last 32. Despite the defeat, Brazil appear certain to reach the finals.
Argentina stunned their opponents by rushing to a 3-0 halftime lead with two goals from striker Hernan Crespo, who took his tally in the tournament to seven, and a world-class strike from Juan Roman Riquelme.
Brazil recovered to dominate the second half, pulling one back with a trademark Roberto Carlos free kick and hitting the post through Adriano in the 84th minute.
Behind Argentina and Brazil (27 points), Ecuador (23 points), Paraguay (22) and Colombia and Chile (20) appear to be fighting for the other two direct places or fifth spot, which earns a two-leg play-off against the winners of the Oceania region.
Japan, co-hosts with South Korea in 2002, became the first team to qualify for 2006 when they beat North Korea 2-0 behind closed doors in neutral Bangkok.
World governing body FIFA switched the venue from Pyongyang as punishment following crowd violence after North Korea's defeat by Iran in March.
"I always knew we'd get through," said Japan's Brazilian coach Zico, who has come under fire after a run of unconvincing performances.
FRENZIED CELEBRATIONS
Iran were the second team through after a 1-0 win over Bahrain in Tehran that sparked frenzied celebrations in the capital as fans enjoyed the country's qualification for their first finals since 1998. Iran also took part in 1978.
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Their match was held up for almost 10 minutes in the first half after angry home fans hurled stones and bottles on to the pitch after the Koreans were awarded a penalty. The Kuwaitis can now expect tough sanctions from FIFA for the disturbances.
Asia's day was complete when Saudi Arabia saw off Uzbekistan 3-0 in Riyadh to reach their fourth consecutive finals.
With one round left in Asia, Bahrain will face Kuwait or Uzbekistan in a two-legged playoff with the winner meeting the fourth-placed team in the CONCACAF Zone for a place in the finals.
UKRAINE CLOSE
No European qualifiers are known yet but Ukraine edged closer to their first appearance in the finals when Andriy Husin secured a 1-0 win with a goal after 81 minutes against European champions Greece in Athens.
Ukraine lead Group Two on 23 points with three matches left and stay seven points clear of Turkey, who won 6-0 in Kazakhstan for their largest international away victory.
That result lifted Turkey on to 16 points, one more than Greece, and means Ukraine need just two points to be sure of qualifying.
A win over lowly Georgia in September, who they beat 2-0 at home last October, will see them safely through.
The Czech Republic also scored six -- taking their tally to 14 in five days after their 8-1 win over Andorra on Saturday.
They beat Macedonia 6-1 to keep the pressure on Netherlands in Group One. Jan Koller was the Czech hero, scoring four goals in 11 minutes to take his all-time record for his country to 39 goals -- and that after Macedonia had scored first.
The Dutch retained first place with a 4-0 win in Finland and have 22 points with four matches to play, one point more than the Czechs.
Although it is not yet certain, whoever comes second in that group should have enough points to finish with one of the two best runners-up records in Europe, which also guarantees a place in the finals.
STEP CLOSER
Portugal took another step towards Germany with a 1-0 win in Estonia that took them on to 20 points and kept them three points clear of Slovakia, 4-0 winners in Luxembourg, in Group Three.
Ireland moved top of a tightly bunched Group Four with a 2-0 win in the Faroe Islands that lifted them to 13 points.
They are a point ahead of Switzerland, two in front of Israel and three above France, who have two matches in hand on the Irish in a group that is still wide open.
Group Seven is also finely balanced after Spain struggled to a 1-1 draw with Bosnia in Valencia in a match that brought down the curtain on a busy European night in sensational fashion.
Bosnia, 1-0 up with a 39th minute goal from Zvjezdan Misimovic, had substitute Nedim Halilovic sent off after 88 minutes and Mirsad Beslija dismissed six minutes into stoppage time.
Spain then equalised through Carlos Marchena in the seventh minute of added time to move a point clear of Serbia & Montengero at the top, having played one more match.
In CONCACAF region qualifying, the Mexico and the U.S. both recorded comfortable wins to remain on course for the finals.
Mexico beat Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 to stay top of the six-team final qualifying group on 13 points, one clear of the U.S. who eased to a 3-0 win in Panama.
Costa Rica edged Guatemala 3-2 in the other match to move into third place on seven points at the halfway stage.
The top three teams qualify automatically for Germany.
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