POrtugal and Poland have qualified for the soccer World Cup in Qatar. The Portuguese around star Cristiano Ronaldo beat North Macedonia 2-0 (1-0) in Porto on Tuesday evening. In the playoff final, Bruno Fernandes (32nd and 65th minute) scored the decisive goals and secured the 2016 European champion’s eighth participation in a world championship. The underdogs from North Macedonia, who surprisingly won 1-0 against European champions Italy in the playoff semifinals, missed out on qualifying for the first time.
Bayern Munich’s star striker Robert Lewandowski celebrated with Poland at the same time a deserved 2-0 (0-0) against Sweden. Lewandowski (49th) with a converted penalty and Piotr Zielinski (72nd) also ensured that Sweden’s football icon Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who came on late in Poland, missed the finals. In their home town of Chorzow, Poland managed to win their ticket to a World Cup for the ninth time. As in 2010 and 2014, Sweden is not there.
African champion Senegal is experiencing déjà vu
In the repeat of this year’s Africa Cup of Nations final, Senegal secured their ticket to the World Cup in Qatar in a dramatic penalty shoot-out. The African champions beat Egypt 3-1 on penalties in the play-off second leg in the capital Dakar on Tuesday. The team around Liverpool star Sadio Mané lost the first leg 1-0 to the Egyptians around his Premier League team-mate Mohamed Salah.
At the Stade Me Abdoulaye Wade, Boulaye Dia (3rd minute) scored for Senegal in the early stages and forced extra time. There was hardly anything worth seeing until the penalty shootout. Superstar Salah then missed on the first try for the Egyptians and Mané’s goal on the fifth attempt sealed the deal and ensured his home country’s acclaimed third place in the finals.
As in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt – here in the person of Mohamed Salah – failed on penalties against Senegal.
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Build: AP
Ghana qualified for the World Cup for the fourth time. A 1-1 draw against favored Nigeria was enough for the four-time African champions on Tuesday. The first leg ended 0-0. Thomas Partey (10′) gave the Ghanaians an early lead, while William Troost-Ekong (22′) quickly equalised, but that didn’t work at home because the away goals rule was decisive.
Between Algeria and Cameroon (first leg: 1-0), Morocco and Congo (1-1) and Tunisia and Mali (1-0), the three remaining African World Cup tickets will be awarded late on Tuesday evening. On Friday the preliminary round groups will be drawn for the final round, which begins on November 21 in Qatar.
After the 1-1 draw in the first leg, Morocco and ex-Dortmunder Achraf Hakimi left no doubts about qualification with a 4-0 (2-0) win over the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Eddine Ounahi with a brace (21’/54′), Tarik Tissoudali (45’+7′) and Hakimi (69′) scored the goals for Morocco, who will be participating in the World Cup for the sixth time. Ben Malango Ngita (77th) scored the consolation goal.
A 0-0 win against Mali after a 1-0 first-leg win was enough for the Tunisians to qualify for Qatar. Midfielder Ellyes Skhiri from 1. FC Köln came on after 67 minutes.
