John Milton wrote in Paradise Lost, "Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light." He didn't know it at the time, but he was talking about World Cup qualifying.
UEFA World Cup 2014 qualifying: Bosnia, England and Spain clinch spots in Brazil
The final automatic qualification places in UEFA have been claimed, all eight places in the playoff round are taken. After a long campaign, World Cup qualifying in Europe is nearly complete.
Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno
After over a year of matches across Europe, we have finally finished the road -- well almost all it since we still have the playoff round -- in UEFA.
Nine teams -- Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Bosnia, England and Spain -- have claimed automatic births for next summer's World Cup in Brazil and another four will join them after a playoff round of games in November.
Here’s a recap of all the results from the final day of World Cup qualifying across Europe:
Group A
Serbia 5-1 Macedonia
Serbia hammered last place Macedonia, securing a third placed finish in the group.
Belgium 1-1 Wales
Belgium didn’t need to do anything on the final day of qualifying and it showed as they drew with Wales.
Scotland 2-0 Croatia
Croatia finished second and will be in the playoff round despite a poor showing against Scotland.
Group B
Bulgaria 0-1 Czech Republic
Borek Dockal’s goal early in the second half ended Bulgaria’s already slim hopes of qualifying for the playoff round.
Denmark 6-0 Malta
Denmark belted Malta on the final day of qualifying, but it wasn’t enough as despite finishing in second place, they still ended up the lowest ranked off all the possible playoff teams and thus were eliminated.
Italy 2-2 Armenia
Italy had to come from behind twice to earn a draw against Armenia.
Group C
Faroe Islands 0-3 Austria
Goals from Andreas Ivanschitz, Sebastian Prödl and David Alaba helped Austria end their campaign with a win.
Republic of Ireland 3-1 Kazakhstan
Ireland overturned an early one goal deficit to earn a final day victory over Kazahkstan.
Sweden 3-5 Germany
Germany overcame an early two goal deficit to pull away from Sweden in a wild eight goal match.
Group D
Hungary 2-0 Andorra
Two second-half goals, one from Nemanja Nikolic and an own-goal from Ildefonso Lima fired Hungary to a final day victory over Andorra. The win moves Hungary up to third in the group while Andorra finishes on the bottom.
Romania 2-0 Estonia
Ciprian Marica is the hero for Romania as his brace not only gave his nation the victory over Estonia, it also secured Romania a place in the playoff round.
Turkey 0-2 Netherlands
Turkey fell out of second place and will not get a shot at going to Brazil in the playoff round after falling against the Dutch.
Group E
Cyprus 0-0 Albania
The qualifying campaigns of both Cyprus and Albana came to a close with a drab scoreless draw.
Norway 1-1 Iceland
Kolbeinn Sigthorsson put Iceland in front in the 12th minute and despite an equalizer in the 30th minute from Daniel Braathen, Iceland held on for the point. Thanks to Slovenia's loss against the Swiss, Iceland finished second in the group and will enter the playoff round.
Switzerland 1-0 Slovenia
Granit Xhaka’s late goal helped the Swiss (who had already qualified for Brazil) finish their campaign on a positive note with a win. For Slovenia, they’re left sitting in third place, one point behind Iceland for the playoff spot.
Group F
Azerbaijan 1-1 Russia
Russia needed a point and got a point as they won Group F and booked their place in Brazil.
Israel 1-1 Northern Ireland
Steven Davis’ late equalizer helped Northern Ireland earn a final day draw against Israel. Neither side had anything official to play for today.
Portugal 3-0 Luxembourg
Portugal's convincing victory wasn't enough to get them ahead of Russia as they'll have to settle for a date in the playoff round.
Group G
Greece 2-0 Liechtenstein
Greece rolled past Liechtenstein behind goals from Dimitris Salpingidis and Giorgos Karagounis, but they still had to settle for second in the group and a spot in the playoff round.
Lithuania 0-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
For the first time since their formation in 1992, Bosnia have qualified for the World Cup.
Latvia 2-2 Slovakia
Martin Jakubko and Kornel Salata gave Slovakia a two-goal lead at halftime, but Latvia stormed back in the second half thanks to goals from Velerijs Sabala and Renars Rode to earn a draw.
Group H
England 2-0 Poland
The Three Lions claimed a spot in Brazil, winning Group H with a 2-0 win over Poland.
Montenegro 2-5 Moldova
Moldova scored five goals!
San Marino 0-8 Ukraine
Thanks to England's win, the best the Ukraine could do is secure a spot in the playoff round and they did just that with an emphatic thumping of lowly San Marino.
Group I
France 3-0 Finland
France will not head to the playoff round after finishing second in Group I.
Spain 2-0 Georgia
Spain needed a single point to secure their spot in Brazil, but they went ahead and just won anyway.
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