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Spain, Serbia and Croatia will participate in the World Cup next year. In any case, Sweden, Portugal and Russia have not yet-not yet.
Alexander Mitrovic’s header in the 90th minute allowed Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal to beat Serbia 2-1 in Lisbon, which allowed Serbia to win an automatic qualifier for the Qatar World Cup. Portugal still has a chance to advance, but must advance to four teams in the playoffs in March.
All the teams that reserved World Cup seats in Europe on Sunday did so with dramatic late goals.
Spain only needed to tie in the final match against Sweden to qualify, but Alvaro Morata secured the veteran Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic with the only goal 1-0 in the 86th minute. Rahimovic’s hope of playing in the World Cup again depends on the playoffs.
Croatia’s goal of besieging Russia on the water-filled field quickly turned into a swamp and finally paid off. The Russian defender scored an own goal in the 81st minute, enough to win 1-0.
Russia will also participate in the playoffs starting on March 24, and will divide 12 teams-10 runner-ups in the group and two teams that have achieved excellent results in the National League-into three of four teams team. Each bracket has a World Cup seat. The draw was held in Zurich on November 26.
Group A
When Renato Sanchez scored the opening goal just two minutes later against Serbia, Portugal was in a strong position, but Dusan Tadic equalized in the 33rd game and kept Serbia in In the game. Mitrovic’s late header silenced the audience and shocked the Portuguese players, including Ronaldo, who was sitting on the court at the final whistle.
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“This is an amazing game, well deserved,” Mitrovic said. “I think we deserve to win the game and come to Qatar.”
After Serbia failed to qualify for the European Championship, defeating Portugal for the first time marked a reversal.
Portugal has a positive factor. Its relatively strong record in the group stage means that it will become one of the seeded teams in the playoffs in March and will win a home draw in the semifinals of the single leg bracket. The last time Portugal missed the World Cup was in 1998.
In another Group A match, Ireland beat Luxembourg 3-0.
Group B
Substitute Morata scored the winning goal for the Spanish team. Danny Olmo’s long shot bounced from the goal post, allowing Spain to participate in the World Cup for the 12th consecutive time.
Serbia’s Alexander Mitrovic celebrated after scoring the team’s second goal in the 2022 World Cup qualifier against Portugal. -AP
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 40, is fighting to participate in his first World Cup with Sweden since 2006 – he was not selected for the big squad in 2018 – but in the 74th The game cannot be changed after a substitute comes out.
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Before losing to Georgia 2-0 on Thursday, Sweden seemed to have controlled a movement.
In Athens, Greece has been eliminated and a 1-1 draw with Kosovo.
Group H
The 2018 World Cup runner-up Croatia must bravely face the 2018 host Russia team and the weather to get a seat in next year’s game.
The pouring rain on the water-filled stadium forced Croatia to change its game plan to long shots and crosses. Russian defender Fedor Kudriashov’s own goal allowed Croatia to win a victory in the group stage. Get a place in Qatar.
The Croatian team dominated the game against Russia. The draw was enough to allow them to finish the game first, but the poor shooting percentage and some reliable saves by goalkeeper Matvi Safonov caused a tight end. Russia will enter the playoffs.
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The third-ranked Slovakia defeated the Malta team 6-0, relying on the attacking midfielder Ondrej Duda’s hat trick. Slovenia defeated Cyprus 2-1.
Group J
On the night of theatrical performances of other major European teams, the German team remained calm in a straightforward victory. Germany qualified last month and raised its already impressive goal difference to +32 this week, which is currently the best in European qualifiers.
In addition to Hans Flick’s winning record as the head coach of the German team, there is not much advantage in the 4-1 defeat of Armenia. Armenia has the smallest chance of entering the playoffs mathematically. Two goals by Ilkay Gundogan helped Flick win his seventh victory in the seven games he was responsible for.
The North Macedonia team will still enter the World Cup for the first time after beating Iceland 3-1 to secure their position in the playoffs. Eljif Elmas scored two goals for his team. This will be an unseeded player. Romania defeated Liechtenstein 2-0, but missed the playoffs due to the victory of North Macedonia.
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