Greece qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with a 1-0 victory over hosts Ukraine on Wednesday evening in the Donbass Arena under pouring rain.

   The second playoff game was played in Donetsk on Wednesday and the only goal was scored by Dimitris Salpingidis 31'. The first game, played in Greece last Saturday, had ended in a goalless (0-0) draw.

   The Greek national team qualifies for the FIFA World Cup finals for the second time in its history, after the 1994 World Cup in the United States, thus earning a place among the 32 teams to play in the final phase from among the 204 teams vying in the qualifier phase.

   The qualifying match was head coach German Otto Rehhagel's 100th time at the helm of a Greek national team game in his 8 1/2 years with the team.

   President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias, in a message, expressed his "warm congratulations for your qualifying for the finals of the top soccer tournament".

   "With your effort you made all the Greeks proud. You are praiseworthy and I wish you continuous successes," President Papoulias said in his message.

   Prime minister George Papandreou telephoned Greek national team captain Georgios Karagounis immediately after the victory to congratulate the team, and asked of Karagounis to convey his best wishes for even bigger successes to the rest of the team, the coach, and everyone else who worked for this success.

   The Greek team lineup: Alexandros Tzorvas, Nikos Spiropoulos, Loukas Vyntra, Sotiris Kyriakos, Vangelis Moras, Socratis Papastathopoulos (Vassilis Pliatsikas, 29), George Samaras (Fanis Gekas, 63), George Karagounis, Costas Katsouranis, Angelos Charisteas (Alexandros Tziolis, 71), Dimitris Salpingidis.

   Caption: Dimitris Salpingidis scorer of Greece's goal(L) and George Samaras (R) celebrate after the end of the match between Greece and Ukraine in Donetsk's Donbass Arena on Wednesday 18 November 2009 for the play offs of the World Cup 2010 ANA-MPA/NIKOS VIHOS