Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Ronaldo
A stunning turnaround from France has secured their place at the World Cup in Brazil, while Cristiano Ronaldo has led Portugal to victory over Sweden.
A batch of key qualifying matches overnight has made and faded dreams around the world as Europe and Africa finalised its qualifiers.
France produced a stunning performance to overturn a two-goal first-leg deficit and qualify beating Ukraine 3-0 today in Paris.
In front of a raucous crowd at the Stade de France, Les Bleus took the lead midway through the first half through Mamadou Sakho and levelled the tie on aggregate when Karim Benzema netted from an offside position after 34 minutes.
That strike came shortly after the Real Madrid man had had a perfectly good goal disallowed, and the controversy continued as Ukraine defender Yevhen Kacheridi was sent off early in the second period.
France made their one-man advantage count as an Oleg Gusev own-goal put them ahead in the tie for the first time in the 72nd minute and Didier Deschamps’ side won 3-2 on aggregate.
“Four days ago, we were in a bad position but the players were fantastic tonight,” Deschamps told French television.
“I didn’t have doubts but we played a huge match and this qualification is very important for French football.
“It’s a bit of a tradition that when French teams have their backs against the wall, they perform and we had a lot of heart and determination today.
“Now we’ve qualified, we’re capable of some great things.”
Ukraine were pinned back from kick-off, and goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov turned a Valbuena shot around the post inside three minutes before Paul Pogba headed a Valbuena corner over the bar.
You might like
And just as the away side thought they had taken some of the early sting out of the contest, their defence – which had gone eight successive matches without conceding – was finally undone in the 22nd minute.
When a Valbuena set-piece delivery from the right fell to Franck Ribery on the edge of the box, the Bayern Munich man’s shot was blocked by Pyatov, but Sakho was on hand to convert the rebound from a tight angle, the Liverpool defender netting his first goal at international level.
France’s hope turned to genuine belief, and the home fans rose to their feet as a glorious shooting opportunity fell to Pogba on the edge of the box. However, the young midfielder could only blaze his effort over the bar.
Controversy was just around the corner, as Benzema bundled a low Ribery cross from the left into the net at the back post, only for the offside flag to cut short his joy.
It was the wrong decision by the Slovenian officials but remarkably another error on their part allowed France to level the tie on aggregate.
In a scramble in the Ukrainian box, the ball come off Valbuena and fall to Benzema barely six metres out. This time, he was offside but the assistant’s flag stayed down as he gleefully fired home.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brilliant hat-trick as Portugal survived a second-half scare in their 3-2 playoff second leg win against Sweden this morning to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.
The Real Madrid superstar, who scored the only goal in last week’s first leg, overcame an equally brilliant display from Swedish captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a classic encounter at Solna.
Ibrahimovic scored both goals for Sweden in vain as the match featured five goals in 29 minutes of second-half madness.
Portugal advance 4-2 on aggregate.
Ronaldo also became Portugal’s all-time leading scorer taking his tally to 50 and three ahead of retired forward Pedro Pauleta.
With Portugal leading 1-0 after the first leg and the match scoreless at halftime, Ronaldo turned the game on its head five minutes after the restart when he latched onto a glorious through ball from Joao Moutinho and guided a left-foot shot past the despairing Andreas Isaksson.
The counter-attack that begun inside the Portuguese penalty area took just two touches to send the former Sporting Lisbon and Manchester United striker free on a break that went the length of the pitch.
Sweden were left facing the daunting prospect of scoring three times in 40 minutes and roused the crowd into a frenzy when Ibrahimovic headed home Kim Kallstrom’s corner with 22 minutes remaining.
The packed crowd at the Friends Arena were given further hope four minutes later when English referee Howard Webb correctly awarded a free-kick to Sweden just outside the area which Ibrahimovic drilled low past Rui Patricio.
With a wave of yellow shirts bombarding the Portuguese defence, Ronaldo again came to the rescue with two goals in two minutes, both of them clinical finishes after breaking behind the defence.
Stay informed, daily
Hugo Almeida set up Portugal’s third goal which took the sting out of the crowd before another perfect pass from Moutinho enabled Ronaldo to round Isaksson before smashing the ball in off the underside of the bar.
Portugal had the better of the first-half chances with Ronaldo twice blasting over from inside the box and Bruno Alves seeing his glancing header desperately pushed away by Isaksson.
However, Sweden stuck to the task with Ibrahimovic turning a close-range shot over the bar and Kallstrom’s rasping long-range shot well collected by Rui Patricio.
The stage was then set for a second-half of thrilling action and Ronaldo’s battle with Ibrahmivic which was finally won by the Portuguese.
In Africa, Algeria and Ghana completed the five African qualifiers for next year’s World Cup, joining Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast, who all qualified at the weekend.
This quintet is identical to Africa’s ambassadors at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Algeria did just enough to book a ticket to their fourth World Cup by beating Burkina Faso 1-0 to go through on the away goals’ rule after the first game ended 3-2 in favour of the west Africans.
It needed a scrambled effort in the 49th minute by skipper Madjid Bougherra for Algeria against Burkina Faso – beaten finalists at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations – who were resolute in defence, but offered very little going forward.
Despite losing 2-1 in Cairo, the Black Stars of Ghana qualified for a third successive World Cup, 7-3 on aggregate.
Egypt could not overcome the 6-1 humiliation they suffered at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi last month.
The Pharaohs, who last appeared at the World Cup in 1990, scored through Amr Zaki and Mohamed Gedo in either half, before substitute Kevin-Prince Boateng pulled a goal back for Ghana late on.
It was a huge disappointment for the seven-time African champions, whose American coach Bob Bradley is now expected to quit.
Ghana became only the third African team to reach the last eight of a World Cup four years ago.
They will again be fancied to do well in Brazil with the return of several top stars Michael Essien, Boateng and the Ayew brothers, Andre and Jordan.
Nigeria became the first African team to qualify for Brazil on Saturday when they beat Ethiopia 2-0 in the southern coastal town of Calabar to go through 4-1 on aggregate.
Cameroon put aside internal squabbles to qualify for an African record seventh World Cup in style when they trounced Tunisia 4-1 in Yaounde after the first leg finished in a goalless draw in Tunis.
The Indomitable Lions became the first African team to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 1990, but suffered a first-round exit at the last tournament in South Africa.
The Ivory Coast will also hope to go beyond the first round in Brazil after they outscored fellow west Africans Senegal 4-2 on aggregate.
The Elephants, led by inspirational skipper Didier Drogba, were eliminated in the first round in 2006 and 2010 after being drawn in very tough groups.
The draw for the 2014 World Cup will be conducted at Bahia in Brazil on December 6.
