Who has qualified for South Africa 2010?

Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - Ghana defeated Sudan 2-0 in Accra to become the first African side to reach the 2010 World Cup in South Africa from the qualifiers.

Inter Milan's Sulley Muntari and Chelsea's Michael Essien scored the goals in each half to give Ghana an unassailable lead at the top of qualifying Group D.

Information picked by GNA Sports from BBC Sports on Sunday outlines the number of countries which have so far qualified for the World Cup. It is the second time Ghana have reached the World Cup finals, following their appearance in 2006 when they impressed in reaching the last 16 in Germany, before they were knocked out by Brazil. Brazil are the only team to have appeared in every World Cup finals and they made sure that record would continue in the best possible fashion, beating their bitter rivals Argentina 3-1 on their home turf. Two goals from striker Luis Fabiano and another from defender Luisao was enough as they inflicted only the second home defeat in World Cup qualifiers on Diego Maradona's struggling side.

Coach Dunga: "We're happy. We beat a great team with great champions. Lionel Messi might be the best player in the world. We beat Argentina, which had not lost a match at home in qualifying." Iran's failure to defeat South Korea in Seoul earlier in the day meant North Korea only needed to draw in their final group match against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.

They did exactly that, with a 0-0 result, putting them into their first World Cup finals since 1966. Back then, they were memorably beaten 5-3 in the quarter-finals by Portugal - despite taking a 3-0 lead. Coach Kim Jong-Hun: "It was so hot in Saudi Arabia and as you know the journey from Korea was long, but our belief in the ability of the players snatched the ticket to South Africa."

The Dutch won 2-1 away to Iceland to become the first European side to qualify for next summer's tournament.

Goals from Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel put Bert van Marwijk's team in the driving seat before Kristjan Orn Sigurdsson pulled a goal back.

Bert van Marwijk: "My goal was to qualify for the finals so now we have a year to prepare. Winning six straight World Cup qualifiers deserves a compliment."

The South Koreans secured a seventh successive World Cup finals place thanks to a 2-0 victory over United Arab Emirates in Dubai. Park Chu-young and Ki Sung-yueng grabbed the goals as Huh Jung-Moo's outfit strolled to a place in Africa's first World Cup. Huh Jung-Moo: "I'm really happy that we made it. We are all satisfied with a performance that saw us ensure a place in South Africa. The players were excellent throughout the qualifiers, they did a great job."

The Socceroos (Australia) eased into the World Cup without so much as even conceding a goal in the six matches it took them to qualify. A 0-0 draw against Qatar in Doha wrapped things up for Pim Verbeek's team after they picked up 14 points in Group A of the final Asian qualifying phase.

Pim Verbeek: "The World Cup is a great, great event and I'm already looking forward to going there. We have to go and do it better than last time."

Takeshi Okada's Japan became the first team to book their place after earning a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Uzbekistan in Tashkent.

Shunji Okazaki grabbed the only goal of the game after nine minutes to book a fourth successive finals berth.

Takeshi Okada: "We played very well. I think we should continue playing this style in the remaining matches."

FULL LIST OF TEAMS AT 2010 WORLD CUP

HOSTS South Africa

AFRICA QUALIFYING Ghana

ASIA QUALIFYING Japan, Australia, South Korea and North Korea

EUROPE QUALIFYING Netherlands

SOUTH AMERICA QUALIFYING Brazil