Diego Maradona's Argentina sealed their place at the 2010 World Cup with a 1-0 victory over Uruguay in Montevideo.
The Argentines, who had looked in real danger of not making the cut after their 1-0 defeat by Paraguay, claimed victory with a scrappy 84th minute winer from Mario Bolatti.
The result gave Argentina the fourth and final automatic qualifying spot available to South American teams. Brazil, Chile and Paraguay had already booked their places.
In fact, Argentina could actually have afforded to draw with Uruguay because the other contenders for a qualifying spot, Ecuador, lost to Chile.
Ecuador's defeat meant that Uruguay finished in fifth place and had to face Costa Rica in a play-off.
After a 1-0 away win in San Jose, the two-time champions finished the job in Montivideo to book their first finals appearance since 2002.
