|
 Iceland failed to become the least populous nation to reach
soccer's top tournament, losing to Croatia on a thrilling final
night of European qualifying.
Greece, Ghana, Mexico and Algeria also earned berths.
The final berth will be determined Wednesday night, when Uruguay
defends a 5-0 advantage against Jordan. The draw is Dec. 6 at Bahia,
Brazil.
Mexico qualified for the World Cup with a 4-2 victory over New
Zealand in the second leg of an inter-continental playoff Wednesday,
advancing with a 9-3 aggregate total.
Striker Oribe Peralta followed his double in the opening leg with a
hat trick at Wellington to send his team to Brazil with an emphatic
performance.
Ronaldo's second international hat trick gave Portugal a 3-2 win at
Stockholm and a 4-2 aggregate victory.
"It felt complicated for a moment after they scored," Ronaldo said.
"We suffered a little bit and then, well, we scored two more goals."
Ronaldo, who scored in Portugal's 1-0 home win last Friday, scored
off a pass Joao Moutinho in the 50th minute.
The 32-year-old Ibrahimovic tied the score in the 68th and put the
hosts ahead 2-1 with a free kick three minutes later, leaving Sweden
trailing on away goals. Goals by Ronaldo in the 77th and 79th
minutes sealed the home-and-home, total-goals series for Portugal,
which will be going to its fourth straight World Cup.
Sweden and Ibrahimovic will miss soccer's top tournament for the
second straight time.
"Of course I'm disappointed. I wanted to play the World Cup,"
Ibrahimovic said. "We did our best. Unfortunately, we played against
a better team — better than us, no doubt."
It was the 26th professional hat trick for Ronaldo, who has 23 for
Real Madrid and one for Manchester United. His first three-goal game
for Portugal was Sept. 6 at Northern Ireland.
"It just hurts right now," Sweden coach Erik Hamren said. "It is a
dream, an ambition that has died. It's hurting for everyone."
France overturned a two-goal deficit from the first leg and beat
Ukraine 3-0 on goals by Mamadou Sakho and Karim Benzema followed by
a 72nd-minute own goal by Oleg Gusev.
Les Bleus, the 1998 world champion, played with a man advantage
after Yevhen Khacheridi was given a red card for fouling Franck
Ribery in the 47th minute.
Sakho began the comeback in the 22nd minute with his first
international goal, and Benzema tied the home-and-home, total-goals
series in the 34th with his third goal in his last four matches for
France.
France went ahead in Paris when Gusev, who entered in the 64th
minute, turned in a cross under pressure from Sakho. Les Bleus
qualified for their 10th straight major tournament.
"It's the magic of football. Four days ago we were bad, very bad,"
France coach Didier Deschamps said. "I've experienced some great
moments but this one is special."
At Zagreb, Croatia won 2-0 following a 0-0 tie at Iceland last week.
Dario Mandzukic scored in the 22nd minute, then was given a red card
nine minutes later for a studs-up tackle against Johann Gudmundsson.
Mandzukic's goal came after Ivan Rakitic's cross was deflected into
the penalty area by Ivan Perisic.
Darijo Srna added a goal in the 47th for Croatia, which won the
home-and-home, total-goals series 2-0 and qualified for its fourth
World Cup since becoming an independent state in 1991.
[to top of second column] |
Iceland has a population of about 320,000.
"Croatia deserved to win," Iceland defender Ragnar Sigurdsson
said. "It was the better team, especially today, and there is no
doubt it deserves to go to Brazil. We felt it might go better
for us after Mandzukic was sent off, but we did not get any
space on the pitch."
Greece reached its second straight World Cup and third overall,
beating Romania on 4-2 aggregate with a 1-1 draw.
Kostas Mitroglou, who scored twice last Friday at Piraeus, gave
Greece the lead in the 23rd minute. Romania tied the score in
the 55th minute when a botched Greek clearance led to an own
goal by Vassilis Torosidis.
In Cairo, Ghana qualified for its third straight World Cup,
defeating Egypt on 7-3 aggregate with a 2-1 loss that knocked
out the Pharaohs and American coach Bob Bradley. Trailing 6-1
from the first leg last month, Egypt took a 2-0 lead on goals by
Amr Zaki in the 25th minute and Gedo in the 84th. Kevin
Prince-Boateng scored for Ghana on a counterattack in the 89th.
Egypt has not qualified for the World Cup since 1990, and
Bradley said he would leave if his team didn't qualify. Ghana
also eliminated Bradley's U.S. team in the second round of the
2010 tournament.
Algeria earned Africa's last berth, beating Burkina Faso 1-0 for
a 3-3 aggregate tie and a victory on away goals. Madjid
Bougherra scored off a scramble in the 49th minute.
Marc Janko scored in the 33rd minute after lax defensive
marking, giving Austria a 1-0 exhibition win over the United
States in Vienna. Hungarian referee Istan Vad failed to allow a
goal for the United States when Geoff Cameron's header off
Michael Bradley's corner kick deflected off an arm of Marko
Arnautovic and appeared to cross the goal line in the 17th
minute before it was swatted away by goalkeeper Robert Almer.
Defending champion Spain endured a miserable return to the scene
of its World Cup triumph in 2010, losing an exhibition 1-0 to
South Africa at FNB Stadium, formerly known as Soccer City.
Per Mertesacker scored on a header off Toni Kroos' cross that
gave Germany a 1-0 exhibition victory that sent England to
consecutive home losses for the first time in 36 years. England,
beaten 2-0 by Chile on Friday, had not lost consecutive matches
at Wembley since defeats to Wales and Scotland in 1977.
Hulk and Robinho scored to lift Brazil to a 2-1 victory over
Chile in a soccer friendly in Toronto, a game that was both part
of World Cup preparations and a spirited match between two South
American teams.
Hulk scored in the 14th minute, the goal coming after Oscar
intercepted a pass out of Chile's backfield. Oscar sent a long
cross to Hulk, who launched a left-footed shot past goalkeeper
Claudio Bravo.
Robinho gave the Brazilians the lead in the 80th minute when he
headed in a perfectly placed goalmouth cross from Maicon.
Eduardo Vargas scored Chile's goal in the 71st minute, taking a
short pass from Jean Beausejour and launching a long shot that
tucked just inside the left corner, catching Brazilian
goalkeeper Julio Cesar flat-footed.
[Associated
Press; STEVE DOUGLAS, AP Sports Writer]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
