SSpain and Serbia have qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Spain struggled to a 1-0 (0-0) against pursuers Sweden on Sunday evening, who moved into the playoffs. Portugal gave the secure ticket at home against Serbia in stoppage time and have to tremble after the 1: 2 (1: 1) second.
The Spaniards dominated the game, which was led by the German referee Felix Brych, in front of their home crowd. It was not until the 86th minute before Alvaro Morata scored. Sweden did without star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the starting line-up and rarely radiated danger. Emil Forsberg from RB Leipzig missed the greatest chance (40th).
In the second game of Group B there was a 1: 1 (1: 0) point between Greece and Kosovo. Giorgos Masouras’ opening goal (44th) was equalized by Amir Rrahmani (76th).
Portugal took the lead early on through former Munich Renato Sanches (2nd). The Serbs put pressure on and, through Dusan Tadic, they made a deserved compensation (33rd). In stoppage time, Aleksandar Mitrovic caused Serbian cheers. Ireland secured third place in Group A with a 3-0 (0-0) win in Luxembourg.
The Russian Fedor Kudriaschow deflects the ball into his own goal.
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Build: AP
An own goal by Fedor Kudriaschow gave the World Cup runners-up Croatia a ticket for the finals 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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