Republic of Ireland reach Euros after play-off win

Giovanni Trapattoni has guided the Republic of Ireland to their first major finals since the 2002 World Cup, with a 5-1 aggregate win over Estonia.

The Irish will join fellow play-off winners Portugal, Croatia and Czech Republic in the Euro 2012 draw when it is made on December 2nd.

Goals from Stoke's Jonathan Walters, Blackburn's Keith Andrews, who is on loan at Ipswich, and a brace from former Tottenham man Robbie Keane all but sealed the tie for Ireland with a 4-0 win in the first leg in Estonia.

In the return game, Wolves midfielder Stephen Ward opened the scoring to put the contest beyond doubt, with the game eventually ending 1-1.

Tottenham defender Vedran Corluka was amongst the scorers as Croatia won 3-0 in Turkey, before sealing their finals place with a 0-0 draw on home soil.

Portugal were held 0-0 by Bosnia in the first leg, but romped to a 6-2 victory in the home leg to qualify for the finals.

Manchester United midfielder Nani scored a wonderful goal, while former United man Cristiano Ronaldo was also, inevitably, amongst the scorers.

Czech Republic were the other victors, with a 3-0 aggregate win over Montenegro.

England ended their year with two 1-0 home wins in friendly matches against World Champions Spain, and Sweden.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard scored the only goal against team that top the FIFA World Rankings, as England produced a fine defensive display.

On Tuesday night, Gareth Barry tried to claim England's 2000th international goal, but replays showed that his header went in off Celtic defender Daniel Majstorovic for an own goal.

Wales continued their good run of form with a 4-0 thrashing of Norway thanks to goals from Tottenham's Gareth Bale, Liverpool's Craig Bellamy and a brace from Wolves striker Sam Vokes.

Queens Park Rangers striker Jamie Mackie was on target for Scotland as they recorded a 2-1 win in a friendly in Cyprus.

Elsewhere, Sunderland striker Nicklas Bendtner scored two goals in two games as Denmark beat Sweden and Finland.

Bendtner was on target in a 2-0 win over the Swedes and then scored the winner, after Liverpool's Daniel Agger had opened the scoring, in a 2-1 win over Finland.

Spain followed up their defeat to England with a 2-2 draw in Costa Rica, with Manchester City midfielder David Silva scoring one of the goals.

Silva's City team-mate Mario Balotelli was also amongst the goals, scoring one of Italy's two in a 2-0 win in Poland.

Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez was on target for Mexico, in a 2-0 win over Serbia, and Fulham's Clint Dempsey scored for the USA as they beat Slovenia 3-2.

Finally, the qualification for the 2012 World Cup continued in some areas of the World and the performance of Liverpool's Luis Suarez really stood out.

Suarez scored all four goals for Uruguay in a 4-0 win over Chile over the weekend.

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero scored the winner for Argentina in a 2-1 victory in Colombia.

Chu-Young Park has found his chances limited since moving to Arsenal, but was on target for South Korea as they won 2-0 in the United Arab Emirates.