The Netherlands
Dutch football remains in crisis after the Oranje failed to reach their second successive major tournament, having missing out on Euro 2016 last summer.
The Dutch needed to beat Sweden by a seven-goal margin on the final day to nick the play-off place from them, so an eventual 2-0 win was too little too late.
Bayern Munich star Arjen Robben provided both goals on the night before announcing his international retirement after the game. It is the first time in 30 years that Holland have failed to reach back-to-back major finals.
Chile
Chile ended up as the major casualties from a ding-dong South American qualifying battle that went down to the final day.
Lionel Messi’s Argentina went into the final round of fixtures at serious risk of missing out, but their win away to Ecuador along with Chile’s defeat to Brazil and Peru’s draw with Colombia means La Roja will miss out for the first time since 2006.
The Peruvians edged them into the play-off place courtesy of goal difference, meaning the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal will have to wait another four years for their next crack at the World Cup after reaching the last 16 in the previous two editions.
USA
The Americans suffered one of the most humiliating nights of their football history last night when a shock 2-1 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago saw their World Cup hopes come to an abrupt and unexpected end.
A comfortable 4-0 hammering of Panama in the penultimate round looked to have all-but secured progress for Bruce Arena’s men as they moved into third place in the CONCACAF final stage and an automatic qualification spot.
Only an unlikely series of results would have prevented them at least booking a play-off spot, but that was exactly what unfolded on a nightmare evening.
The devastating defeat to the Caribbean nation, who were cast adrift at the bottom of the table, combined with Panama and Honduras beating already-qualified Costa Rica and Mexico respectively, saw USA dramatically drop to fifth place on the final day.
Cameroon
Reigning African champions Cameroon were pitted in a tough qualifying group alongside Nigeria, Zambia and Algeria, but will be disappointed by their effort to reach a third consecutive World Cup.
Hugo Broos’ side claimed their first Africa Cup of Nations win in 15 years back in February, but couldn’t replicate that form in qualifying as they picked up just one win in five games to end their hopes ahead of Wednesday’s concluding clash against Zambia.
Ghana
Another surprise African casualty, Ghana have been eliminated with a game to spare at the expense of Egypt.
Having reached the last three World Cups in a row, getting as far as the quarter-finals in 2010, James Kwesi Appiah’s talented team have flattered to deceive in qualifying with just one win in five games going into their meaningless final day meeting with the jubilant Egyptians on Thursday.
A squad featuring the likes of Jordan and Andre Ayew, of Swansea and Newcastle respectively, as well as fellow Premier League performers Christian Atsu, Daniel Amartey and Jeffrey Schlupp are currently set to finish in third place behind Egypt and Uganda.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here