His best throw was 18.65m - over a metre behind the qualifying mark.
United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Rangers all reached the first round automatically, while Arsenal eased to a 5-1 aggregate victory over Celtic in qualifying to clinch their place in the lucrative stages of Europe's premier competition.
Staunton has received huge criticism after his side's dismal 2-1 Euro 2008 qualifying victory over San Marino.
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The 21-year-old picked up the knock during the 3-1 Euro 2012 qualifying win over Switzerland in Basle on Tuesday.
"It's very close - it's 95% done, " said the 34-year-old after playing for England as a substitute in the 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over Belarus.
Babel made his international debut for the Netherlands in March 2005 at the age of 18 and became his country's fourth youngest scorer when he netted after coming on as substitute in a 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Romania.
Midfielder Benjamin Huggel, meanwhile, will travel to his first World Cup after missing out in Germany because of the six-match Fifa ban he received for his part in the brawl that erupted after Switzerland's 2005 qualifying play-off victory over Turkey in Istanbul.
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Their chances of repeating a third-place finish may depend on an against-the-odds victory over Dinamo Zagreb and the cash from qualifying for the Europa League group stage.
Canada, who beat Norway and made hard work of their win over Switzerland, must play again on Tuesday in play-off qualifying.
Meanwhile in Group Five , Kenya finally kicked off their qualifying campaign with a sensational 3-2 win over Malawi .
In 2009, the team finally won through to the final qualifying round for the ICC's 50-over World Cup tournament, scraping through after winning a rain-affected match against Uganda.
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Elsewhere in the African qualifying zone Egypt recorded a 1-0 win over Zambia in their Group C clash in Konkola to potentially set up a deciding match with Algeria in Cairo next month.
Sampdoria were also celebrating after a 1-0 home win over Napoli secured the fourth and final Champions League qualifying spot.
Former Scotland captain Rioch's side have a 5-0 first-leg lead over Modrica so should make it through to the third qualifying round.
The result boosted Motherwell's hopes of securing a Europa League qualifying slot, handing them a one-point advantage over fifth-placed Hibs going into their final match of the season.
Newcastle also retain hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages after a 21-16 win over Overmach Parma.
Meanwhile, Romania completed their qualifying campaign in style with a comprehensive 6-1 victory over nine-man Albania in Bucharest to finish top of Group G.
In the group's other match, second-half goals from Vitali Bulyga and Vladimir Korythko ensured Belarus ended their qualifying campaign with a shock 2-1 win in Minsk over the Netherlands -- for whom Rafael Van der Vaart scored a late consolation goal.
World champions Italy completed their qualifying campaign by securing top spot in Group B with a 3-1 triumph over the Faroe Islands in Modena.
Japan still hold a six-point lead over Jordan, who moved from bottom to second, at the top of Asian qualifying Group B and the Blue Samurai will secure a place at next year's finals if they avoid defeat against Australia in June.
On the men's side, No. 4-ranked David Ferrer needed five match points before clinching a 6-0, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 win over American Tim Smyczek, who got into the main draw as a lucky loser from qualifying.
"I've never felt this fit, this strong, this happy to play -- and I think I can be even better, " fourth-ranked Williams told the WTA Tour's website after her 7-5 6-3 win over the 20-year-old Vandeweghe, who made it into the main draw as a lucky loser from qualifying.
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