Ghana, Mexico, Portugal are Headed to World Cup

20 Nov, 2013

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a dazzling hat trick to lift Portugal into next year’s World Cup at the expense of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Sweden, and France came back in remarkable fashion to overtake Ukraine for a berth in the 32-nation field for next year’s tournament in Brazil.

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.

Mexico, Greece, Ghana 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.

Ronaldo’s second international hat trick gave Portugal a 3-2 win at Stockholm and a 4-2 aggregate victory.

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.

At Zagreb, Croatia won 2-0 following a 0-0 tie at Iceland last week. Mario 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.

Iceland has a population of about 320,000.

Ninety seconds from elimination last month, Mexico qualified for its sixth straight World Cup by winning 4-2 at New Zealand for a 9-3 aggregate victory. Oribe Peralta had a first-half hat trick, giving him five goals in the playoff and 10 in qualifying, one behind co-leaders Robin van Persie of the Netherlands, Luis Suarez of Uruguay and Deon McCaulay of Belize.

Greece reached its second straight World Cup and third overall, beating Romania on 4-2 aggregate with a 1-1 draw.

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.

Reuters

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