The organisation instilled by coach Otto Rehhagel means that his Greece team will be hard to beat if not always good to watch at World Cup 2010.

King Otto: Greece players rejoice with their coach, Otto Rehhagel, after defeating Ukraine to reach World Cup 2010

Greece's World Cup record: 1994 1st rd.

How Greece qualified for World Cup 2010: European play-off winners.

The Coach: Otto Rehhagel (German, 71). Appointed: Aug 2001. WC experience: Player: None. Coach: None.

Rehhagel is the only person who, as player and as manager, has participated in over 1000 Bundesliga matches. This also explains his nickname Kind der Bundesliga (child of the Bundesliga).

The Country: Greece was seeded in the first pot for the draw of the European qualification zone and their campaign began and ended with matches against Luxembourg. Two losses to Switzerland placed the Greeks one point behind the Swiss group winners, leaving Greece's 2010 World Cup hopes to be decided in a play-off with Group 6 runner-up Ukraine.

And the Greeks confirmed a night of celebration back hom when they secured a hard-fought 1-0 win in the return leg (watch YouTube). Panathinaikos striker Dimitris Salpingidis claimed the only goal of the match sending Greece, the 2004 European champions, into their second World Cup finals after a 16-year absence.

On a rain-soaked pitch of the half-empty, 50,000-seater Donbass Arena, Ukraine’s former Chelsea striker and national captain Andriy Shevchenko missed a chance to put his team into the lead in the eighth minute and Greece replied with a header by Celtic forward Giorgos Samaras, which went just inches above the crossbar from a well-struck Giorgos Karagounis free-kick.

Sofoklis Plavios, chairman of the Greek Football Federation, was jubilant after Wednesday's victory. "I can't find words to describe the atmosphere in the dressing room," he said. "This triumph is unbelievable. No one is saying anything. They're just celebrating and hugging each other. The boys believed in themselves and have brought joy to Greeks. It is an amazing feat to eliminate Ukraine at home."

Telegraph verdict: Another case of a coach wringing out every last bit of talent from an apparently ordinary squad. But then, in the shrewd Rehaggel, the Greeks have the man who led them to improbable glory in Euro 2004 and has now taken them to their first World Cup Finals since 1994. Organisation is the key and they will be hard to beat if not always good to watch.