Bora Milutinovic has done it again - this time with China, which will be playing in its first World Cup.

The globe-trotting Yugoslav coach is headed to his fifth World Cup with his fifth team. He coached China to a 1-0 win over Oman on Sunday in the Chinese city of Shenyang.

Milutinovic's World Cup resume features Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, the United States in 1994 and Nigeria in 1998.

On Saturday, six European nations won spots in next year's tournament: England, Russia, Italy, Croatia, Denmark and Portugal. They joined Poland, Spain and Sweden.

Champion France has automatic entry as do hosts South Korea and Japan. Argentina, Costa Rica, South Africa, Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia and Nigeria also have qualified.

China midfielder Yu Genwei, filling in for suspended top scorer Qi Hong, scored in the 35th minute.

The Chinese win sparked widespread celebrations. While calling the victory the happiest moment in his career, Milutinovic sounded a sober note on the team's chances next year.

"Everybody here knows that China is not a strong team," he said. "Asia is rather backward in soccer. And other Asian teams performed not so well in the World Cup finals."

In other European games Sunday, Sweden, which had already qualified, defeated Azerbaijan 3-0 in Stockholm. Later, Macedonia played Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina played Liechtenstein in meaningless games.

Eight European teams on Saturday were sent to the playoffs, with Germany the most surprising. As a three-time World Cup champion, Germany has never missed the World Cup and now must beat Ukraine.

The runners-up in the nine European groups play each other, except for Ireland. The Irish face the tough prospect of an Asian qualifier, probably Saudi Arabia or United Arab Emirates. Belgium will play the Czech Republic and Slovenia will play Romania.

The first leg is Nov. 10 and the second Nov. 13.

One playoff spot has yet to be determined. Austria or Israel will face Turkey. Israel and Austria were to play Sunday in Tel Aviv, but the game was postponed for security reasons. A new date has not been set.

The Asian qualifying competition does not end until Oct. 31.