And rest of the World...

The North, Central America/Caribbean zone had 35 teams taking part to decide 3 automatic qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2010 and 1 spot, who'd take on the 5th team from South America in a play-off round.

First round saw the entrants reduced to 24 teams. Second round decided the 12, who'd be drawn into thre groups of four, where the two top teams advanced to the final stage - a six-team group. USA won the group in the end. Mexico, who struggled in the beginning under Sven-Göran Eriksson, got 2nd place, while Honduras took 3rd with better goal difference ahead of Costa Rica. Costa Rica went to play Uruguay in a play-off round.

Oceania qualification was the first since Australia switched to the Asian Zone. The first stage started all the way back in 2007 at Pacific Games in Samoa, where the football competition also acted as a FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying competition. Top three advanced to the second stage to be seeded along side New Zealand. The second stage was Oceania Nations Cup 2008 as well as the last stage of the FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying in the Oceania zone. It consisted of a 4-team group, from where the winner advanced to the next phase - a play-off with Asian zone 5th team.

So, New Zealand faced Bahrain in a two-legged play-off. The first match in Bahrain ended goalless, but the All Whites, as the New Zealand football team is called, took the qualifying spot in the return leg, thanks to a goal from Plymouth Argyle striker Rory Fallon.