Portugal punch tickets with ease

SWITZERLAND: WILL HAVE TO FIGHT IT OUT IN PLAY-OFFS

Griezmann leads France to finals while the Netherlands crash out.

Lisbon

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal defeated Switzerland 2-0 in Lisbon last night to earn a place at the 2018 World Cup and consign their opponents to next month’s play-offs.

An own goal from Johan Djourou handed Portugal the lead on 41 minutes and Andre Silva netted a second before the hour as the hosts finished top of Group B ahead of Switzerland on goal difference.

Switzerland, who beat Portugal 2-0 at home last year, had won all nine previous qualifiers but must overcome a two-legged playoff in November to earn a fourth straight World Cup appearance.

Ronaldo, who was injured for the opening qualifying defeat in Basel, returned to the Portugal line-up after coming off the bench to notch the opening goal in a lacklustre 2-0 win in Andorra on Saturday.

Switzerland were attempting to join defending champions Germany – and Spain ahead of the 2010 finals – as the only nations to complete a European World Cup qualifying campaign with a perfect record.

Switzerland go into the playoffs as the best of the eight runners-up to advance, with Slovakia missing out as the worst of the nine second-placed sides.

Vladimir Petkovic’s team will be among the seeded countries for the play-off draw on October 17 and could face Sweden, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland or Greece for a place at Russia 2018.

Elsewhere, France’s Antoine Griezmann scored one and set up another as they booked their place by beating Belarus 2-1 at the Stade de France in their last Group A qualifying game.

Griezmann opened the scoring and then set up Olivier Giroud before the break while Belarus reduced the arrears on the stroke of halftime through Anton Saroka.

The result put France, who will take part in their sixth consecutive World Cup finals, on 23 points after 10 games, four ahead of second-placed Sweden.

The Netherlands failed to reach the 2018 World Cup finals as they could only beat Sweden 2-0 when they needed an unlikely 7-0 victory. – AFP, Reuters