Serbia shocks Portugal to affix Spain, Croatia at World Cup
Spain, Serbia and Croatia are heading to subsequent 12 months’s World Cup. Sweden, Portugal and Russia should not but, anyway. Aleksandar Mitrovic’s Ninetieth-minute header left Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal surprised in a 2-1 win for Serbia in Lisbon, which gave Serbia an computerized qualifying spot on the World Cup in Qatar. Portugal nonetheless has an opportunity to qualify, however it should navigate a four-team bracket within the playoffs in March.
All of the groups which booked a World Cup place in Europe on Sunday did so with dramatic late objectives. Spain solely wanted a attract its final sport towards Sweden to qualify, however Alvaro Morata made certain within the 86th minute with the one aim in a 1-0 win to go away veteran Sweden star Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s hopes of one other World Cup look relying on the playoffs.
Croatia laid siege to Russia’s aim on a waterlogged subject shortly turning right into a swamp, and was lastly rewarded when a Russian defender scored an 81st-minute own-goal, sufficient for a 1-0 win. Russia, too, heads to the playoffs, which begin March 24 and can kind 12 groups _ 10 group runner-ups and two with robust information from the Nations League _ into three brackets of 4 groups. Each bracket has one World Cup place. The draw takes place Nov. 26 in Zurich.
GROUP A
Portugal was in a powerful place when Renato Sanches scored the opening aim after simply two minutes towards Serbia, however Dusan Tadic saved Serbia within the sport with an equalizer within the thirty third. Mitrovic’s late header silenced the gang and shocked Portugal’s gamers, together with Ronaldo, who sat on the sphere on the remaining whistle.
“It was an amazing game, fully deserved,” Mitrovic mentioned. “I think we deserved to win the game and to be in Qatar.” Beating Portugal for the primary time marks a turnaround after Serbia did not qualify for this 12 months’s European Championship. There’s one constructive for Portugal. Its comparatively robust file within the group means will probably be one of many seeded groups for the playoffs in March and can get a house draw for the single-leg bracket semifinal sport. Portugal final missed a World Cup in 1998.
GROUP B
Substitute Morata scored the winner for Spain after Dani Olmo’s long-range shot bounced off the put up to ship Spain to its twelfth consecutive World Cup. At the age of 40, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was bidding to succeed in his first World Cup since 2006 with Sweden _ he didn’t make the squad in 2018 _ however couldn’t change the sport after coming off the bench within the 74th. That ended a marketing campaign which gave the impression to be below management for Sweden earlier than a shock 2-0 loss to Georgia on Thursday.
GROUP H
The runners-up from the 2018 World Cup, Croatia, needed to courageous 2018 host crew Russia and the climate to ebook its place at subsequent 12 months’s event. In driving rain on a waterlogged pitch which pressured Croatia to modify its sport plan to lengthy pictures and crosses, an own-goal from Russian defender Fedor Kudriashov handed Croatia a win and a spot in Qatar as group winner.
Croatia dominated the sport towards a Russian crew for which a draw would have been sufficient to complete first, however poor taking pictures and a few strong saves from goalkeeper Matvey Safonov made for a tense end. Russia will probably be seeded within the playoffs.
GROUP J
On an evening of drama for different huge European groups, Germany stayed calm in an easy win. Germany certified final month and has spent this week burnishing its already spectacular aim distinction to +32, the most effective in European qualifying in the meanwhile. Except for Hansi Flick’s profitable file as Germany coach, there wasn’t a lot using on the 4-1 win over Armenia, a crew which had solely the slimmest mathematical likelihood of qualifying for the playoffs. Two objectives from Ilkay Gundogan helped Flick earn his seventh win from seven video games in cost.
North Macedonia stays in rivalry to succeed in a World Cup for the primary time after beating Iceland 3-1 to safe a spot within the playoffs. Eljif Elmas scored twice for his crew, which will probably be unseeded. Romania beat Liechtenstein 2-0 however missed the playoffs due to North Macedonia’s win.
