Deportivo La Coruna, Lech Poznan and FC Copenhagen all won their final group matches 1-0 on yesterday to clinch places in the next round of the UEFA Cup.
Deportivo defeated Nancy, which lost out on a place in the next round when Lech Poznan won at Feyenoord through a close-range finish by Ivan Djurdjevic in the 27th to take Group H's remaining qualifying spot.
With half of the four groups in action Wednesday already settled, Copenhagen took the only other spot still up for grabs when Brazilian forward Cesar Santin scored in the 58th minute at FC Brugges to knock out the Belgian side.
The result put Copenhagen in third place in Group G with five points from its four matches, two more than Brugges. Saint-Etienne won the tussle for first place in the group by drawing 2-2 with visiting Valencia, which won the tournament in 2004 and had already qualified.
Deportivo finished second to CSKA Moscow in Group H, with Lech Poznan leaping ahead of Nancy to finish in third place and eliminate the French team.
The final six spots in Friday's draw will be settled today, with former winners Tottenham and Sevilla trying to join the likes of AC Milan, Valencia and Hamburg among the last 32 sides.
Milan, though, failed to win Group E as it had been expected to when Mahir Saglik scored with nine minutes left to earn Wolfsburg a 2-2 draw at San Siro.
Things looked good for the seven-time European champions when Massimo Ambrosini put them ahead in the 17th with a header from Clarence Seedorf's corner kick,
Cristian Zaccardo, an Italy defender playing in the Bundesliga, equalized with a right-foot shot past goalkeeper Dida in the 56th but substitute Alexandre Pato restored Milan's lead just seconds later.
That looked to be it, but Saglik tied it again.
"I would have preferred to win than to score," Pato said.
Wolfsburg's 10 points put it two clear of its opponent and four clear of Braga, which was idle but had already qualified. Heerenveen lost 3-0 at Portsmouth in the other match to take last place without a single point.
Topping the group means that Wolfsburg cannot be drawn against one of the eight teams to drop into the competition following elimination from the Champions League. That dubious honor goes to the sides that finish second in their UEFA Cup groups.
Defending UEFA Cup champion Zenit St. Petersburg, Bordeaux, Werder Bremen, Shakhtar Donetsk, Marseille, Aalborg, Fiorentina and Dynamo Kiev are the teams to come into the tournament from the Champions League.
Hamburg clinched top spot in Group F with a 3-1 win over already-qualified Aston Villa, but the Bundesliga club needed a contentious final goal to make the victory so comprehensive.
Mladen Petric and Ivica Olic had put the home side in control when Villa looked certain to get a 57th-minute penalty kick when goalkeeper Frank Rost leaped into a studs-first challenge on Craig Gardner. But referee Aleksei Nikolaev ruled against the English club and Joris Mathijsen launched a long pass to Olic, who shrugged off a challenge by Carlos Cuellar and shot past American goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
Gardner was substituted with gashes on his shins and Nikolaev had to warn Villa manager Martin O'Neill against continuing his protest on the sidelines. Nathan Delfouneso got a late goal for Villa but his team had to play the last seven minutes with 10 men when Steve Sidwell got a second yellow card.
"We are first in the group and that's what you want," Hamburg manager Martin Jol said.
Hamburg finished with nine points, two more than Ajax, which drew 2-2 with already-eliminated Slavia Prague, and three more than Villa.
"In the last 32 you will see a much-improved Aston Villa team," O'Neill said.
Jan Vertonghen headed Miralem Sulejmani's third-minute corner to give Ajax the lead but Jaroslav Cerny converted Matej Krajcik's cross to level for Slavia in the 12th. Marek Jarolim put Slavia in front in the 40th before Luis Suarez won and scored an injury-time penalty to tie the scores again.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily December 18, 2008)
