World Soccer - UK (2022-01)

WORLDSERVICE

play-offs.

GoalkeeperRobin

Olsenhadtipped

DaniOlmo’s shot

ontothecrossbar

andMoratawason

handtotaphome

therebound.Luis

Enrique’smenthus

qualifiedfor a 12 th

consecutive World

Cupfinals.

Thatsame

eveningthe

scripttookan

unexpected twist

forSpain’s Iberian

neighbours

Portugal.Theyonlyneededa home

drawagainst Serbia, andwereon

courseforQatarevenwhenDusan

TadiccancelledoutRenatoSanches’

opener. Howeverhalf-timesubstitute

AleksandarMitrovicheadeda dramatic

latewinnertosendSerbiatothe finals

andshockedPortugalintotheplay-offs.

DefeatendedPortugal’s unbroken

winningrun in homeWorldCup

qualifiers(tengames)stretching

backtoOctober 2013.

Nosuchpain forCroatia,thirdin

Russia,whoovertookthe 2 01 8 hosts

witha1-0 GroupH victoryin Split.

LucklessdefenderFyodorKudryashov

carriedthecanafterdeflectinga Borna

Sosacrossintohisown netwithRussia

justnineminutesfromthe finals.

Some 24 hourslateranditwas

injury-hitItaly’sturnto fret aftera

goallessdrawintheirWorldCup jinx

cityofBelfast.A notoriousdefeatthere

hadseen Italymiss the 1958 WorldCup

finals;thistimethe 0-0Group C draw

atleast offereda play-offshot.Italy’s

attacklet themdown. They finished

theircampaignunbeatenbutpaidthe

penaltyfor fourdraws sincetheir Euro

2020 triumph.Switzerlandcapitalised

toovertake Italy, thumpingBulgaria4-0.

Netherlandsbookedtheirplace

witha2-0GroupG homewinover

NorwaythankstolategoalsfromSteven

BergwijnandMemphis Depay.Coach

LouisvanGaal,wholed theDutch to

a third-placefinishinBrazilin 2014 ,

hadtowatch from a wheelchairinthe

standsafter injuringa hipinfallingoff

hisbicycletheprevious weekend.

Defeatwas costlyfor a Norway

teammissinginjuredErlingHaaland,

withTurkeytakingtheplay-off spot

instead.Atleast Norway’s officialsand

playerswillbe sparedtheirmuch-

discusseddilemmaofwhetherto

boycottQataroverhumanrights

concerns.

EnglandwrappeduptheirGroupI

campaignwithdecisivevictories by 5-0

athome to Albaniaand 10 -0awayto

SanMarino,the world’s worst team

at 21 0 in theFIFA rankings.FIFAhas

211 membersbut theCookIslandsare

worseoffthanSan Marinoonlybecause

theydonot have an active nationalside.

HarryKane’slate surgeofa hat-trick

against Albaniaandfour-goalhaulversus

SanMarinomeanthefinishedas 12 -goal

jointtop scorerintheEuropeansection

alongwith DutchmanDepay.

Numberone...

Belgiumremain top

oftheFIFArankings

TheOctoberqualifiershadseen

Germany andthenDenmarkbecome

thefirstEuropeanstoreachthe finals.

Thatleft everythingelse to be decided

inNovember.

Belgium,whoremaintheworld’s

No. 1 teamafter thelatestFIFArankings,

securedGroupE victoryandtheirplace

inQatarwithacomfortable3-1 win

overEstonia.Waleswouldsubsequently

taketherunners-upspotandenterthe

play-offs.Theywillbe accompanied

bythird-placedCzechRepublic who

benefitfromtheNationsLeague

“escapehatch”alongwith Austria

whofinishedfourthbehindDenmark

andimprovingScotlandinGroupF.

Francematched Belgium’ssuccess

withKylianMbappecelebratinghisfirst

internationalhat-trickin 32 minutes

inan8-0GroupD destructionof

Kazakhstan.Karim Benzemashrugged

offthedistractionsofhislong-running

courtcasetoscoretwice. Mbappe,

a keyfigurein 2018 , said:“Even for

thoseofusfortunateenoughtohave

wona WorldCup,it’sstilltheultimate

dreamtoplaythere.”

Spain becamethefifthEuropean

qualifierswhena lonelategoalfrom

AlvaroMorataconsignedSwedentothe

Herotozero...

WorldSoccer

Managerofthe

YearMancini

Play-offsbeckon...
CristianoRonaldo’s
sixgoalsweren’t
enough to take
Portugalthrough

AtleastNorway’sofficialsandplayerswillbe

sparedtheirmuch-discusseddilemmaofwhether

toboycottQataroverhumanrightsconcerns

THEDRAW

PATHA

Scotlandv Ukraine

Walesv Austria

Wales/Austriav Scotland/Ukraine

PATHB

Russia v Poland

Swedenv CzechRepublic

Russia/Poland v Sweden/CzechRep

PATHC

Italy v NorthMacedonia

Portugalv Turkey

Portugal/Turkeyv Italy/N.Macedonia

Theplay-offsemi-finalstakeplaceon

March 24 withseededteamsathome.

ThePathfinalstakeplaceonMarch 29.