Argentina clinch World Cup berth

Montevideo: A narrow 1-0 win in Uruguay helped Argentina to seal their place at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Honduras, Switzerland and Slovakia also earned spots in the 32-nation field.

Mario Bolatti scored in the 84th minute to help Maradona's boys to grab the final automatic berth for next year's tournament.

Brazil (9-2-7) finished first in South America with 34 points, one ahead of Chile and Paraguay (10-5-3), which had earlier clinched the first three berths from South America.

Argentina (8-6-4), who would have missed their first World Cup since 1970 if they had lost, wound up fourth with 28 points and will go to the tournament for the 10th straight time.

"Thanks to my players, today I was consecrated as a coach," Argentina's Diego Maradona said defiantly during post-match remarks laced with profanities. "We are in the World Cup with full honors."