Michael Ballack cancelled out a Hennady Zubov strike as Germany earned a 1-1 draw against Ukraine in the first leg of their World Cup play-off on Saturday.

Zubov put his team ahead in the 17th minute when he picked up a rebound following Andriy Shevchenko's 30-metre free kick and beat German keeper Oliver Kahn from close range.

But Ballack equalised in the 31st minute after latching on to a Bernd Schneider free kick to silence a near capacity 83,000-strong home crowd at Kiev's Olympic Stadium.

German coach Rudi Voeller was satisfied with the outcome and his team's performance.

"We didn't panic after giving up the first goal and everybody on our team deserves credit for their performance. We haven't won yet, but I like our chances in the return match." The second leg takes place in Dortmund on Wednesday.

Slovenia's media compared Milan Osterc's brilliant chip to seal a 2-1 victory over Romania with one of the greatest goals in soccer history.

The Hapoel Tel Aviv forward's shot from 18 metres was put in the same league as the Marco van Basten volley which clinched the 1988 European Championship final for the Netherlands against the former Soviet Union.

Slovenia will be hoping to repeat their surprise Euro 2000 qualification in the second leg on Wednesday in Bucharest and make the finals for the first time.

Two years ago, in the European Championship play-off with favourites Ukraine, they also earned a 2-1 win at home after Milenko Acimovic scored an amazing goal from 50 metres.

Sporting Lisbon striker Marius Nicolae put Gheorghe Hagi's side ahead after 26 minutes but Red Star Belgrade's Milenko Asimovic equalised three minutes before half-time for Slovenia.

Turkey enhanced their chances of playing in a World Cup finals for the first time since 1954 with a 1-0 win against Austria in Vienna.

Inter Milan striker Okan Buruk hit the winner on the hour, although Austria coach Otto Baric remained positive about his team's prospects in Istanbul on Wednesday.

"For me, it makes no big difference if we go to Turkey with 0-0 or 1-0, because we have to try to win there anyway. Now there are 90 minutes left and we will try everything to make it," he said.

Belgium struggled to a slender 1-0 win against a Czech Republic side reduced to 10 men in Brussels.

A first-half goal from stand-in captain Gert Verheyen gave the Belgians victory, but the Czechs regrouped and built an effective defensive wall after defender Tomas Repka was sent off shortly before half-time.

Repka, who plays his club football for West Ham, has already been sent off twice in three matches since joining the Premiership club from Fiorentina in September.

He was dismissed for elbowing Belgian striker Bart Goor in the face after a tussle on the edge of the penalty area after 41 minutes.

Verheyen scored in the 29th minute when he cracked home a Sven Vermant free kick from close range after the ball slid past a thicket of defenders on the penalty spot.

Another serious threat to the Czech goal came when keeper Pavel Srnicek dropped a cross from defender Eric Deflandre in the dying minutes, but he recovered to fist away the resulting shot from Peter Van Houdt.

One team definitely through to the finals are Mexico. Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored two goals and set up the third as his side beat Honduras 3-0 in Mexico City yesterday.

Blanco fired Mexico ahead in the 66th minute, set up the second for Juan Francisco Palencia nine minutes later and completed the win by converting an 80th minute penalty.

The third goal came five minutes after Mexico's Johan Rodriguez and Honduran captain Amado Guevara were sent off following a clash in an off-the-ball incident.

Mexico, who joined Costa Rica and the United States as the CONCACAF region's representatives at the World Cup, had been on the brink of elimination after losing to the US, Costa Rica and Honduras in the final stage of the qualifying competition.

But four wins in their last five games under new coach Javier Aguirre changed their fortunes.

Both teams went into the match level on points but Mexico, with a better goal difference, needed only a draw to take the region's final spot in Japan and South Korea, while Honduras had to win.

Blanco only returned to the team in July after a year's absence, the result of a brutal tackle by a Trinidad player during a preliminary qualifier last year.