EIn own goal by Fedor Kudriaschow the World Cup runners-up Croatia still got the ticket for the final round in Qatar. The Russian defender suffered the mishap in the 81st minute to make it 0-1 (0-0) in the continuous rain of Split. As a result, Croatia overtook Russia on the last day of Group H and secured direct qualification. Russia now has to take the difficult step into the playoffs, in which only three more World Cup tickets are awarded. The ten runners-up and the two best group winners of the Nations League are represented in the playoffs.
Croatia was the better team in Split, but kept running against the self-sacrificing guests in vain. The Hoffenheim striker Andrej Kramaric was also unlucky in his actions. The hosts were only allowed to cheer in the closing stages when Kudriaschow deflected a cross into his own goal. This means that Russia, which unfortunately failed in the quarter-finals on penalties at the 2018 World Cup, is threatening to miss a final for the first time since the 2010 World Cup.
Behind the directly qualified German national team in Group J North Macedonia secured participation in the playoffs. A 3-1 (1-0) win against Iceland on Sunday evening was enough to keep pursuers Romania at bay. However, North Macedonia had to tremble, because Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson equalized after the break (54th) Ezgjan Alioski’s opening goal (7th). Eljif Elmas redeemed the hosts with two goals (65./86.).
The Scandinavians’ race to catch up was also slowed down because of a yellow-red card against Isak Bergmann Johannesson (79th). The Romanians solved their task with a 2-0 (1-0) in Liechtenstein. However, they could not make up the gap to North Macedonia. Dennis Man (7th) and Nicusor Bancu (87th) scored, Nicolae Stancius missed a penalty (34th).
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