Carles Puyol sent Spain through to the 2010 FIFA World Cup with a stunning header and only goal of the match to help La Furia Roja beat Germany 1 – 0 on Wednesday.

The Barcelona centre-back powered home a header from 10 yards from Xavi’s corner 17 minutes from time to send the reigning European champions into their first ever World Cup final.

Holland reached the title game by beating Uruguay 3-2 in Cape Town on Tuesday.

It means there will be a new name on the trophy for the first time since France claimed victory on home soil in 1998.

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque had sprung a surprise before kick-off by dropping out-of-form Liverpool forward Fernando Torres and replacing him with Barcelona youngster Pedro.

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Germany thrashed England 4-1 to leave Fabio Capello pondering his future as national coach while Diego Maradona’s Argentina saw off Mexico 3-1 as the former champions paved the way for a last eight showdown in Cape Town on July 3. Both matches were marred by bad refereeing decisions.

But both last 16 games were mired in controversy.

Capello slammed the Uruguayan referee as his team crashed out in a Bloemfontein humiliation.

Frank Lampard had a legitimate goal disallowed by referee Jorge Larrionda when England were trailing 2-1 just before half-time.

With England surging forward, the midfielder unleashed a drive that beat goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, came off the underside of the crossbar and landed over the goal-line before bouncing out.

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England and Germany just made it into the knock-out stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on Wednesday together with the United States but Australia went out despite a victory that paradoxically saved Africa’s chances.

Ghana, the continent’s last real hope, lost 1-0 to Germany after a thundering 60th minute strike by Mesut Ozil, but finished second in Group D thanks to the Socceroos convincing 2-1 victory over Serbia.

Two half brothers faced each other for the first time at a World Cup when Kevin-Prince Boateng played for Ghana and Jerome Boateng for Germany.

England finally found some of their form to beat a feisty Slovenia, who saw their chance of qualification from Group C agonisingly stolen at the last moment by a USA goal by Landon Donovan in injury time against Algeria.

The last gasp USA victory sparked scenes of joy in Pretoria among American fans and gave them first place in the group over England.

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Germany got off to the perfect start in the 2010 FIFA World Cup by thrashing Australia 4 – 0 in their opening encounter in Durban.

With a young squad and without injured Michael Ballack, the Germans went on a scoring rampage. Lukas Podolski opened their account in the eighth minute before veteran Miroslav Klose doubled the lead before the half-hour mark.

Cheered by the green and gold fans at the Durban Stadium, the Socceroos showed more determination after the re-start but saw their challenge take a fatal hit when Tim Cahill was shown a straight red card in the 56th minute following a late tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger.

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