Favorite wins in World Cup qualification
Lewandowski and Ronaldo go to Qatar
03/29/2022, 10:50 p.m
Cristiano Ronalo and Robert Lewandowski go to the World Cup. Ronaldo’s Portuguese beat North Macedonia 2-0 and Poland used home advantage against Sweden in the crucial play-off game. Robert Lewandowski gets his country on course and celebrates qualifying for Qatar.
Superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski qualified for the World Cup in Qatar with Portugal and Poland. The Portuguese defeated North Macedonia 2-0 (1-0) at home in Porto. Bayern Munich’s star striker Lewandowski led Poland to a well-deserved 2-0 (0-0) win against Sweden in their home town of Chorzow. While the two veterans made it to the finals in the desert nation, Sweden’s icon Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss the tournament.
Bruno Fernandes (32nd/65th minute) scored the decisive goals for Portugal and secured the eighth participation in a World Cup for the 2016 European champions. The North Macedonians, who had sensationally won 1-0 against European champions Italy in the playoff semifinals, missed out on qualifying for the first time in front of 48,010 spectators. From the bench, 40-year-old Ibrahimovic had to watch as Lewandowski (49′) and Piotr Zielinski (72′) made everything clear for the Poles. The eccentric professional only came on in the 79th minute and was unable to do anything.
Poland managed to get their ticket to the World Cup for the ninth time. As in 2010 and 2014, Sweden is not there. The Poles lacked penetrating power in the first half, but led by 33-year-old Lewandowski, that changed after the break. The Swedes were unable to capitalize on their few chances in the first half.
A World Cup participant is still missing
Meanwhile, anyone who had expected a wall tactic from the North Macedonians in Portugal was wrong. Goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski played for time in the first half and drew whistles from the crowd early on, but otherwise the blatant outsider bravely played along. Ronaldo and Co. struggled, a first shot by the superstar (14th) just missed. After that, the Portuguese got stronger and stronger. After a mistake by the guests in midfield, Ronaldo put the ball across to Fernandes, who shot down the left for a deserved lead.
What followed was not very impressive, but sufficient from a Portuguese point of view. Instead of pushing for the next goal, the hosts limited themselves to the bare minimum. During this phase, the North Macedonians simply lacked the talent to threaten Portugal’s defense of 39-year-old Pepe. So it happened as it had to: After another mistake in the visitors’ build-up game, the Portuguese started the next quick counterattack, which Fernandes completed again this time with a volley to make it 2-0.
Meanwhile, Russia’s war of aggression means Ukraine won’t meet Scotland in the semi-finals until June, with the winners meeting Wales. In addition to the German selection in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Croatia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Serbia and Spain had also previously qualified. The preliminary round groups for the World Cup finals, which begin in Qatar on November 21, will be drawn on Friday.