Trinidad and Tobago and the Czech Republic advanced to the World Cup for the first time Wednesday (Local Time), the final day of qualifying that began 26 months ago.

Spain qualified for its eighth straight tournament while Switzerland ousted Turkey, a 2002 semifinalist, and Australia beat Uruguay to advance for the first time since 1974 and become the first nation to qualify for a World Cup in a penalty-kick shootout.

Trinidad and Tobago won 1-0 at Bahrain to win the home-and-home, total-goals series 2-1 and become the fourth team in the tournament from North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Although Czechoslovakia, which split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, played in the World Cup several times, the Czech Republic had never qualified. It's 1-0 home win over Norway, combined with a 1-0 away victory in the first game, pushed the Czechs forward.

Already leading 5-1 from the home leg in Madrid, Spain tied 1-1 at Slovakia to advance. The Spanish extended their unbeaten streak under coach Luis Aragones to 18 games.

Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, who led South Korea to the 2002 semifinals, helped Australia end three decades of frustration. The Australians beat Uruguay 1-0 before 82,698 fans in Sydney and won the penalty kick shootout 4-2. Uruguay had won 1-0 at home.

The Swiss, leading 2-0 from the first leg in Berne, had a scare in Istanbul, where Turkey won 4-2, powered by a hat trick by Tuncay Sanli. The teams wound up tied 4-4 on in total goals, but Switzerland advanced having scored more away goals.

The other 27 teams already qualified for the World Cup are: Croatia, France, England, Germany (host), Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia-Montenegro, Sweden and Ukraine from Europe; Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay from South America; Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo and Tunisia from Africa; Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea from Asia; and Costa Rica, Mexico and the United States from CONCACAF.

The qualifiers will be drawn into eight four-team groups on Dec. 9 at Leipzig, Germany. Next year's tournament runs from June 9 to July 9.