Netherlands, Japan, Australia, South Korea are 1st nations to qualify for 2010 World Cup

Dutch, Japan, Australia, South Korea qualify

The Netherlands, Japan, Australia and South Korea became the first nations to qualify for next year’s World Cup, joining host South Africa in the 32-nation field.

England, meanwhile, put itself in good position to advance, winning 4-0 at Kazakhstan on goals by Wayne Rooney, Gareth Barry, Emile Heskey and Frank Lampard to improve to 6-0 in Europe Group Six. David Beckham entered in the 75th minute for his 111th international appearance, 14 shy of goalkeeper Peter Shilton’s English record.

The United States, coming off a 3-1 loss at Costa Rica, hosted Honduras later Saturday in the North and Central American and Caribbean final round, and Mexico was at El Salvador.

The Netherlands (6-0) grabbed Europe’s first berth, winning 2-1 at Iceland (1-4-1) on goals by Nigel de Jong in the ninth minute and Mark van Bommel in the 16th. Kristjan Orn Sigurdsson scored for Iceland in the 88th. The nine European group winners qualify and the top eight second-place teams go to playoffs.

Earlier in Asia, Japan became the first team to qualify for the second straight tournament, winning 1-0 at Uzbekistan on a ninth-minute goal by Shinji Okazaki. It will be the fourth straight World Cup appearance for the Japanese, who were eliminated in the first round of the 2006 tournament in Germany.

Australia will appear for the second straight time following a 0-0 tie at Qatar, the Socceroos’ sixth consecutive shutout in the Asian finals. It will be the third World Cup appearance for Australia, which qualified in 1974 and was eliminated three years ago with a second-round defeat to Italy.

Japan and Australia are both 4-0-2 with two games left, ensuring they can’t be caught by Bahrain (2-3-1), Qatar (1-4-2) or Uzbekistan (1-5-1).

South Korea clinched a berth in the other Asian group with 2-0 victory at the United Arab Emirates (0-6-1), getting goals from Park Chu-young in the fifth minute and Ki Sung-yueng in the 37th. A semifinalist when it was World Cup co-host in 2002, South Korea will be making its seventh straight World Cup appearance.

South Korea (4-0-2) has 14 points, three ahead of North Korea (3-2-2), which tied 0-0 against visiting Iran (1-1-4) and four in front of Saudi Arabia (3-2-1), which hosts North Korea on June 17. The top two teams in each Asian group qualify, and the third-place teams meet in a playoff.

In Europe, Ireland tied 1-1 at Bulgaria in Group Eight, getting a 24th-minute goal from Richard Dunne and allowing a 29th-minute goal when Dimitar Telkiyski beat goalkeeper Shay Given. Italy (4-0-2) leads with 14 points, followed by Ireland (3-0-4) with 13 and Bulgaria (1-0-5) with eight.

Italy beat visiting Northern Ireland 3-0 in an exhibition, getting goals from New Jersey-born Guiseppe Rossi, Pasquale Foggia and Sergio Pellissier.

Denmark (5-0-1) opened a three-point lead over Hungary (4-1-1) in Group One with its first victory over Sweden (1-1-3) since 1996, a 1-0 win behind Thomas Kahlenberg’s goal in the 22nd minute. Portugal (2-1-3) is third with nine points after winning 2-1 at Albania (1-4-3) as Bruno Alves scored in the third minute of injury time. Hugo Almeida had put the visitors ahead in the 27th but Erion Bogdani tied it two minutes later.

In South America, Brazil (7-1-6) moved ahead of Paraguay into first place, winning 4-0 at Uruguay (4-4-5) on goals by Daniel Alves, Juan, Luis Fabiano and Kaka.

The top four South American teams qualify and the No. 5 nation goes to a playoff. Later games Saturday had Venezuela at Bolivia, Colombia at Argentina and Chile at Paraguay.

In Africa, Togo lost 3-0 at Gabon (2-0), which got goals from Bruno Ecuele, Roguy Meye and Moise Brou. Emmanuel Adebayor picked up a yellow card for Togo (1-1). Cameroon, which lost its final-round opener against Togo, also is in Group A and hosts Morocco on Sunday, The five African group winners will join South Africa.