Portugal wins berth over Swiss
Ronaldo shut out, but teammates come through to secure spot in Russia
LISBON, PORTUGAL— A year after winning the European Championship, Portugal has set its sights on another trophy after sealing its place at the 2018 World Cup with a 2-0 victory against Switzerland on Tuesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s team got the win it needed in the showdown against the Swiss at a packed Stadium of Light.
Both teams finished with 27 points, but Euro 2016 winner Portugal had a better goal difference.
Hungary secured third place with a 1-0 win against the Faeroe Islands, with Daniel Bode scoring the winner in the 81st minute in Budapest. And forward Valerijs Sabala scored a goal in each half to help Latvia defeat Andorra 4-0 in the match between teams at the bottom of the group.
“Just like we did at the Euros, we are going to try to win the World Cup as well,” Portugal midfielder Bernardo Silva said.
Switzerland, which had led Group Bsince the first round, will have to go through a playoff to try to make it to the tournament in Russia.
The Swiss arrived with a threepoint lead over Portugal and needed at least a draw to earn the automatic World Cup berth.
“We weren’t perfect the entire 90 minutes,” said Portugal coach Fernando Santos, who was celebrating his 63rd birthday on Tuesday. “But we got the win and made it to Russia. I always believed that we could do it. I had faith in my players and I’m glad that they gave me this gift today.”
Switzerland had won all of its nine qualifiers until Tuesday’s setback.
GROUP A
Antoine Griezmann scored one goal and made the other as France beat Belarus 2-1 to qualify for next year’s World Cup, while a 2-0 home win for the Netherlands against Sweden was in vain as it failed to reach its second straight major tournament. France won Group A with 23 points, four clear of the Netherlands and Sweden, which advanced to the playoffs on goal difference. Bulgaria finished fourth ahead of Luxembourg and Belarus.
To add to the Dutch disappointment, star winger Arjen Robben announced his retirement from international football after the game.
France was relatively comfortable throughout qualifying, but is not playing as well as when it reached the Euro 2016 final.
“It wasn’t an easy game tonight, but we’ve reached our objective,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “We didn’t do everything right, maybe there was a bit of tension as well.”
This was a functional but uninspiring performance, punctuated by a brief spell of attacking intensity that produced two goals in quick succession.
After strike partner Olivier Giroud hit the crossbar with a close-range header, Griezmann scored in the 27th minute, clipping a low shot into the right corner.
Six minutes later, he turned provider for Giroud, who used this strength to compensate for a lack of pace, holding off a defender before slotting the ball into the bottom corner for his 28th international goal.
GROUP H
Eden Hazard fired Belgium to its fifth consecutive World Cup qualifying victory, scoring twice for a 4-0 win in Cyprus on Tuesday, while Greece also beat Gibraltar 4-0 to edge Bosnia and Herzegovina for a place in the playoffs.
Hazard brought Belgium’s goal tally in qualification to 43. He scored in the12th minute after teammate Youri Tielemans poached the ball off defenders, and was joined by his brother Thorgan with a goal each in the second half.
Romelu Lukaku returned from injury to make it 4-0.
Greece initially displayed weakness in attack, but the visitors eventually tired and conceded three times in the second half for the 4-0 loss, finishing with no points after 10 games in Group H.
Bosnia needed a group upset, but stayed behind Greece despite a 2-1 win in Estonia.