Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of playing in a record-equaling fifth World Cup hang in the balance after Serbia on Sunday stunned Portugal 2-1 in Lisbon to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
Spain and Croatia secured their places in Qatar thanks to 1-0 wins over Sweden and Russia respectively.
Ronaldo already holds the record of playing in five European Championships and looked well on course for another milestone as Portugal stormed out of the blocks to open the scoring after just two minutes through Renato Sanches.
Photo: AP
Serbia bounced back to dominate the remainder of the first half and deservedly leveled when Dusan Tadic’s strike squeezed in off the post after Dusan Vlahovic had hit the woodwork.
Ronaldo was kept quiet as another chance to score his 800th career goal came and went.
Instead it was Aleksandar Mitrovic who grabbed the vital goal as stoppage time approached.
Just more than a year ago, Mitrovic was the villain for his country as he was the only player to fail to score in a penalty shoot-out against Scotland that saw Serbia miss out on Euro 2020.
The Fulham striker made amends in dramatic fashion when he steered in Tadic’s header at the back post.
“It was an amazing game,” Mitrovic said. “We were the better team today in every aspect of the game.”
Portugal must now navigate two tricky one-off playoff matches in March to maintain their record of qualifying for every major tournament since the 1998 World Cup.
Spain made sure they avoided the playoffs as Alvaro Morata’s goal four minutes from time ended Sweden’s resistance in Seville.
The Swedes’ shock 2-0 defeat to Kazakhstan on Thursday handed Spain pole position in Group B, meaning La Roja just needed a point to qualify.
Croatia also needed a late winner as an own goal from Fedor Kudryashov snatched qualification from Russia in a battle in boggy conditions in Split.
Germany had long since booked their place in Qatar, but rounded off their qualifying campaign with a 4-1 thrashing of Armenia, as Ilkay Gundogan scored twice.
North Macedonia secured a playoff place behind the four-time world champions with a 3-1 win over Iceland.
In Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and Ghana both won their respective qualifying groups, advancing to the March playoffs that would determine the continents representatives at Qatar.
DR Congo beat Benin 2-0 in Kinshasa to finish one point ahead of their visitors in Group J, while Ghana’s 1-0 home win over South Africa at Cape Coast also meant they pipped their guests in Group G.
The two countries join Egypt, Mali, Morocco and Senegal in the final stage of the African preliminaries.
The 10 group winners play five two-legged ties to decide the African representation for Qatar and the remaining four group winners would be decided today.
Also on Sunday, Ismaila Sarr scored a double for Senegal as they beat the Republic of the Congo 2-0 in Dakar to finish their group campaign unbeaten. They also amassed 16 points in Group H, but had already booked their place last month.
Mali, who had already ensured top place in Group E last week, also finished unbeaten and with 16 points, as they beat Uganda 1-0, courtesy of a first half strike from Kalifa Coulibaly.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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