Associated Press

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Poulsen scored with a low shot from well outside the area in the 79th minute that bounced past a diving Andreas Isaksson and into the right corner of the net. It was all Denmark needed to clinch a place in South Africa next year, its first major tournament since the 2004 European Championship.

The win set off a massive red-and-white celebration at Parken Stadium, with the players hugging in the mid circle and spraying each other with champagne, before hoisting coach Morten Olsen high into the air.

"It's wonderful," said Olsen, who celebrated his 100th game in charge of Denmark. "We played a better game so our win was well deserved ... All the players who have been on the team have been fantastic."

Denmark has not lost a World Cup qualifier at Parken Stadium since 1981, and also beat Sweden 1-0 in Stockholm earlier in the campaign.

"I'm happy and I'm proud," Poulsen said. "This is the biggest thing I've experienced as a player."

Sweden is left fighting for second place in the group, along with Portugal and Hungary, who were playing each other later. The best eight runners-up in the nine groups will go through to the playoffs.

The Swedes played with four strikers in the final minutes, sending on Marcus Berg and Markus Rosenberg alongside Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but never came close to an equalizer.

Nicklas Bendtner nearly made it 2-0 to Denmark in the final seconds of injury time, but curled his shot just wide of the right post.

"It's a fantastic feeling right now," the 21-year-old Bendtner said about the win. "To experience a World Cup is one of the biggest goals of my career. It's great that it's coming true at a young age."

Larsson had a goal ruled out for offside in the 70th, after Ibrahimovic had sent him clear with a nifty backheel that surprised the Danish defense. Sweden thought it had scored again minutes later when Sebastian Larsson sent a diving header into the net, but the assistant referee ruled the ball had crossed the line before Ibrahimovic sent in the cross.

Ibrahimovic also had a header over the bar in the 67th, and was involved in most of Sweden's attacks.

"We played better and should have won," Ibrahimovic said. "It's like the first game (against Denmark), we did not score. ... They made it more difficult for us tonight. Now, we just have to do our best and win our last game.

Lagerback, who has helped Sweden reach the last five major tournaments, faced immediate questions about whether he'll resign if his team doesn't go to South Africa.

"You'll have to ask me that when it's over," Lagerback said. "You have to congratulate Denmark. In general, it's nice to see teams from the Nordics qualifying, but it's obviously not good that they do it at our expense."

In a back-and-forth game, both teams played ambitiously but struggled to create real chances. Denmark usually tried to play the ball through its five-man midfield, while Sweden's game plan consisted largely of long balls toward the towering Ibrahimovic up front.

Poulsen had the best opportunity of the first half, meeting a long cross all alone at the left post in the 10th minute, but his header from close range was saved by a diving Isaksson.

Ibrahimovic sent a low cross toward Larsson in the area in the 20th, but the former Celtic and Barcelona player missed the ball when trying to flick it past the onrushing Thomas Sorensen.

Larsson became the oldest outfield player ever to play for Sweden, at 38 years, 20 days. He broke Gunnar Gren's record, which had stood for 50 years. Goalkeeper Thomas Ravelli was 38 years, 1 month, 29 days when he played his last international.

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Denmark: Thomas Sorensen, Christian Poulsen, Simon Kjaer, Daniel Agger, Michael Jacobsen, Lars Jacobsen, Jakob Poulsen, Dennis Rommedahl, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Nicklas Bendtner, Martin Jorgensen (Michael Silberbauer, 46).

Sweden: Andreas Isaksson, Mikael Nilsson (Markus Rosenberg, 89), Olof Mellberg, Daniel Majstorovic, Behrang Safari, Rasmus Elm (Marcus Berg), Anders Svensson, Kim Kallstrom, Samuel Holmen (Sebastian Larsson, 63), Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson.