World Cup qualifiers: Serbia surprises Portugal to join Croatia in 2022 World Cup

Spain, Serbia and Croatia are heading to next year’s World Cup. Sweden, Portugal and Russia are not- not yet, however.

Aleksandar Mitrovic’s header in the 90th minute surprised Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal with a 2-1 win over Lisbon in Lisbon, which allowed Serbia to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar automatically. Portugal still have a chance to qualify, but will have to navigate between the four teams in the March playoffs.

All the teams that booked a place in the World Cup in Europe on Sunday did so with huge late goals.

Spain only needed a draw to qualify for the final match against Sweden, but Álvaro Morata secured it with a single 1-0 win in the 86th minute to give Swedish veteran star Zlatan Ibrahimovic hope to have another World Cup match in the playoffs. .

Croatia besieged Russia’s goal in a field filled with water that quickly turned into a swamp and was finally rewarded when a Russian defender scored the 81st-minute own goal to win 1-0.

Russia, meanwhile, are heading into the playoffs, which begin on March 24, and will split 12 teams – 10-set runners-up and two strong Nations League marks – into three sets of four teams. Each level has a World Cup position. The draw will take place on November 26 in Zurich.

GROUP A

Portugal were in a solid position when Renato Sanches scored the opening goal after just under two minutes against Serbia, but Dusan Tadic kept Serbia in the 33rd minute with a draw. Mitrovic’s late header silenced the crowd and surprised the Portuguese players, including Ronaldo, who sat on the pitch in the final whistle.

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“It was an amazing game, well deserved,” Mitrovic said. “I think we deserved to win the game and be in Qatar.”

Portugal’s first win means a change after Serbia failed to qualify for the European Championships.

There is a positive for Portugal. The relatively strong evolution of the team means that it will be one of the teams that qualified for the March playoffs and will get a home draw in the one-leg final match. Portugal last lost a World Cup in 1998.

Ireland won 3-0 in another Group A match in Luxembourg.

GROUP B

Substitute Morata won for Spain after Dani Olmo’s long-range shot bounced off the post to send Spain to their 12th consecutive World Cup.

At the age of 40, Zlatan Ibrahimovic had planned to win his first World Cup since 2006 with Sweden – he did not join the team in 2018 – but could not change the game after being removed from the bench in the 74th.

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This seemed to be under Swedish control as he ended the campaign on Thursday before losing 2-0 to Georgia.

In Athens, Greece was already eliminated, and Kosovo drew 1-1.

GROUP H

The 2018 World Cup runners-up had to face Croatia, Russia 2018 and the weather to reserve their place in next year’s tournament.

In a rainy field filled with rain, which forced Croatia to change its game plan to long shots and midfielders, a self-goal by Russian defender Fedor Kudriashov beat Croatia and gave Qatar a place as the winner of the set.

Croatia dominated against a Russian team, and a draw would be enough to finish first, but a poor shot and a few strong stops from goalkeeper Matvey Safonov got the tension. Russia will qualify for the playoffs.

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Third-placed Slovakia beat Malta 6-0 with a three-pointer from attacking midfielder Ondrej Duda. Slovenia beat Cyprus 2-1.

GROUP J

On a night of drama by other big European teams, Germany were quiet in a straight victory. Germany qualified last month and this week has already reduced the already impressive goal difference to +32, the best in the European standings at the moment.

With the exception of Hansi Flick’s record as a German coach, it didn’t take long for Armenia to win 4-1, a team that had only the slightest mathematical chance of qualifying for the playoffs. Ilkay Gundogan’s two goals helped Flicki secure his seventh win in seven games.

Northern Macedonia continues to compete for the first time in the World Cup after a 3-1 win over Iceland to secure a place in the playoffs. Eljif Elmas scored two goals for his team, which will go without classification. Romania beat Liechtenstein 2-0, but lost the playoffs to a victory over Northern Macedonia.