Sweden and Spain clinched berths in next year's World Cup on Wednesday night, and the Netherlands was eliminated in qualifying and will miss soccer's top tournament for the first time since 1986.

Sweden (7-0-2) got goals from Henrik Larsson in the 88th minute and Andreas Andersson in the 90th to rally past Turkey 2-1 at Istanbul and clinch Group Four.

Turkey (5-1-3), which had gone ahead on Hakan Sukur's goal in the 51st minute, is the first team guaranteed a spot in the November playoffs that will determine five more berths. The nine European group winners advance to the World Cup while the second-place teams go to playoffs.

Spain (6-0-2) won 2-0 at Liechtenstein (0-7) on goals by Raul Gonzalez in the 18th minute and Fernando Hierro in the 82nd to clinch Group Seven.

Twelve teams have clinched berths in the 32-nation field next year in Japan and South Korea, a group that includes the co-hosts, defending champion France and Argentina, Cameroon, Nigeria, Poland, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

The Netherlands (5-2-2), the 1988 European champion and a World Cup finalist in 1974 and 1978, was eliminated despite a 5-0 win over Estonia (2-5-2) at Eindhoven.

Portugal (6-0-3) won 3-1 at Cyprus (2-5-2) on goals by Nuno Gomes, Pedro Pauletta and Sergio Conceicao, ensuring the Dutch will finish third. The Portuguese took over the Group Two lead from idle Ireland (also 6-0-3) on goal difference.

England (5-1-1), coming off its historic 5-1 win last weekend in Germany (5-1-1), moved into the Group Nine lead on goal difference by beating Albania 2-0 at Newcastle on goals by Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler.

Belgium (5-0-2) guaranteed itself no worse than a playoff spot with a 2-0 victory over Scotland (3-1-3), which was pushed to the brink of elimination. Nico Van Kerkhoven and Bart Goor scored in Brussels.

Croatia (4-0-3) moved into position to finish second in Group Six behind the Belgians with a 4-0 win at San Marino.

In the day's lone exhibition game, Damiano Tommasi scored in the 18th as Italy beat visiting Morocco 1-0 at Piacenza.

Costa Rica (5-1-1) had a chance to clinch the first berth from the North and Central American and Caribbean region when it played at home against the United States on Wednesday night.

In the big South American matchup, Argentina (12-1-2) rallied for a 2-1 win over visiting Brazil (7-5-3) at Buenos Aires when Marcelo Gallardo scored in the 75th minute and Brazilian defender Cris accidentally chested the ball into his own net 10 minutes later.

Brazil, traditionally a soccer power, is struggling to gain one of South America's four guaranteed berths in the 2002 tournament. The No. 5 team meets Australia in a playoff

Argentina (12-1-2) leads South American qualifying with 38 points. Paraguay (9-4-2), which won 5-1 at Bolivia on Wednesday night, is second with 29 points followed by Ecuador (8-5-1) with 25 and Brazil and Uruguay (both 7-5-3) with 24 each.

Brazil stayed ahead of Uruguay (plus four) on goal difference, plus-11 to plus 4.