Joy for one United player in Paris inevitably meant agony for others as the World Cup qualifying campaign reached a dramatic climax on Wednesday night.

Patrice Evra and his fellow Frenchmen squeezed through to next summer's finals in South Africa, at the expense of Darron Gibson, John O'Shea and the Republic of Ireland, thanks to a controversial extra-time goal scored by Arsenal's William Gallas.

The creator of the decisive strike, Barcelona forward Thierry Henry, clearly handled the ball in the build-up but despite protests from virtually every Irish player, the strike was allowed to stand and the play-off ended 1-1 on the night, 2-1 on aggregate to France.

The extra period was forced by a surprise scoreline at the end of 90 minutes - 1-0 to the visitors, courtesy of Robbie Keane's first-half goal.

Evra played the full two hours; O'Shea also started the match and had a chance to double his team's lead two minutes after the break, only to half-volley over the bar. He was replaced by ex-United Reserves defender Paul McShane in the 66th minute after appearing to pick up a knock; Gibson entered the fray moments earlier as a sub for Glenn Whelan.

Nani's passage to the World Cup with Portugal was plain sailing by comparison with Evra's exertions. Carlos Queiroz's side won 1-0 away to Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2-0 on aggregate.

The other two European play-offs were won by Slovenia, who knocked out Russia on the away goals rule, and by Greece, 1-0 winners away to Ukraine.