Portugal and France clinch World Cup spots
PARIS: 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 20 in Lisbon thanks to a Johan Djourou own goal and an Andre Silva strike.
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. “We are happy, even if qualifying is logical given the quality of the players I have.” Giroud said he was delighted to have avoided the tension of the playoffs. “We’re all relieved tonight to have ended the campaign with automatic qualification,” the Arsenal forward said. “We chased this game and it wasn’t easy because they were strong and efficient in attack until the final whistle and we had to roll up our sleeves.”
The Dutch, World Cup finalists in South Africa in 2010 and semifinalists four years later, bowed to the inevitable as they failed to achieve the unlikely 7- 0 scoreline over Sweden they needed 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. During those two competitions we formed a real team,” the 33- year- old Robben said.
In Lisbon, Portugal navigated a potentially fraught final fixture with Switzerland, who become one of the eight European nations who must fight through the playoffs for a spot in Russia.
The others are Italy, Denmark, Croatia, Sweden, Northern Ireland, Greece and the Republic of Ireland.
The Swi s s can consider themselves unlucky after winning all nine previous qualifiers but must now overcome a two-legged play- off in November to earn a fourth straight World Cup appearance.
Ronaldo, who was injured for the opening qualifying defeat in Basel, returned to the Portuguese line-up after coming off the bench to notch the opening goal in a lacklustre 2- 0 win in Andorra on Saturday.
US pop star Madonna was among the crowd at the Estadio da Luz which erupted when Djourou inadvertently bundled in a dangerous cross from Eliseu four minutes before the break under heavy pressure from Joao Mario.
Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva then exchanged passes with former Monaco teammate Joao Moutinho, threading through the return pass for an unmarked Andre Silva to poke in at the far post.
“We’ve never pretended to be the best in the world, but we’re capable of going head to head against any opponents,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos said.
Greece locked up second place behind Belgium in Group H courtesy of a 4- 0 stroll against Gibraltar.