After Euro, Ronaldo eyes World Cup glory
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and Antoine Griezmann’s France booked spots at the 2018 World Cup finals on Tuesday while the Netherlands crashed out. Portugal beat Switzerland 2-0 in Lisbon thanks to a Johan Djourou own goal and an Andre Silva strike.
Ronaldo is headed to the World Cup with Portugal, and some of his teammates are already expecting another title.
Ronaldo, as usual, was the country’s key player as they won nine straight qualifiers to reach the tournament in Russia. And that came after the Real Madrid forward led the way to winning last year’s European Championship, Portugal’s first major trophy.
“Portugal always play to win, and just like we did at Euro 2016, we are going to try to win the World Cup as well,” Portugal midfielder Bernardo Silva said.
France needed goals from Griezmann and Olivier Giroud in a hard-fought 2-1 win over Belarus at the Stade de France.
After a stuttering campaign, France’s achievement in beating Bulgaria and Belarus in their final two qualifiers means they avoid the playoffs having had to go through that route for the last two finals. “We have had a difficult route and tonight wasn’t easy either but we’ve achieved our aim,” coach Didier Deschamps said.
The Dutch, World Cup finalists in South Africa in 2010 and semi-finalists four years later, bowed to the inevitable as they failed to achieve the unlikely 7-0 scoreline over Sweden to salvage a wretched qualifying effort.
Arjen Robben scored twice in a 2-0 win over the Swedes in Amsterdam and said afterwards he was retiring from international football.
“I will always remember the 2010 World Cup and 2014. Those are my best memories,” Robben said.