Portugal and France reach World Cup
European champions Portugal beat Switzerland in Lisbon to finish top
of European Qualifying Group B and reach the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
A draw or a loss would have left Portugal in the play-offs but an own
goal from Johan Djourou and a goal from Andre Silva took Portugal
through.
France beat Belarus 2-1 to win Group A, with Sweden finishing second despite losing 2-0 to the Netherlands.
The Dutch, who finished third in the 2014 World Cup, are eliminated.
They needed a seven-goal win to nudge Sweden out of the play-offs and
scored two first-half goals through Arjen Robben, but it was not
enough.
Antoine Griezmann |
Goals from Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud (pictured) and Atletico
Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann gave France a 2-1 win over Belarus.
In Group H, Greece ensured their place in the play-offs with a 4-0 win over Gibraltar.
Belgium had already won that group and thrashed Cyprus 4-0 with
Chelsea's Eden Hazard scoring twice, and further goals from his brother
Thorgan and one late on from Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku.
The European teams to qualify for the World Cup so far are France,
Portugal, Germany, Serbia, Poland, England, Spain, Belgium and Iceland.
There are four more European places up for grabs, with eight nations -
Sweden, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Denmark,
Italy, Greece and Croatia - taking part in two-legged play-offs.
Four of the teams will be seeded, and they will be confirmed when the next Fifa world rankings are announced next week.
Slovakia, who finished below England and above Scotland in Group F,
are the nation to miss out on the play-offs as they are the
second-placed side with the worst record.
Source: wires
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