Enlarge image
Bruno Fernandes
Photo: Octavio Passos/Getty Images
The next participants for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar have been confirmed:
Portugal
and
Poland
, with Robert Lewandowski, have secured a place in the finals in autumn via the European play-offs.
Portugal made it perfect for the sixth time in a row with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 2016 European champions beat Italy-Schreck North Macedonia 2-0 (1-0) in the play-off final.
The match winner in front of 50,000 spectators in Porto was Bruno Fernandes with two goals (32nd minute/65th).
Ronaldo and Co. went into the game with a warning: outsiders North Macedonia, who recently qualified for a major tournament (EM 2020) for the first time, had knocked out Italy 1-0 five days earlier.
With Visar Musliu from second division bottom FC Ingolstadt in the starting XI, the number 67 in the world rankings relied on a compact defense from the start.
Although Portugal struggled, they also got a lot more out of the game.
After half an hour it was time.
Bruno Fernandes took an untenable shot after a one-two with his club-mate Ronaldo.
After the break, the Manchester United professional followed up with his eighth international goal with a direct acceptance.
Poland struggled for a long time against Sweden in Chorzow before Bayern striker Lewandowski scored his 75th international goal from the penalty spot (49').
Piotr Zielinski (72nd) followed up.
Coach Czeslaw Michniewicz's team is taking part in a World Cup in Qatar for the second time in a row and for the ninth time in total.
The Poles, who reached the final without a fight after Russia's exclusion, were harmless, especially before the break.
After recovering from knee problems, Lewandowski was the greatest asset and also had the best chance with a header (10th).
At the other end, Emil Forsberg from RB Leipzig, who was in the starting XI in contrast to Zlatan Ibrahimović (40), had the lead on his toes (19').
With the improvement in performance in the second half, Poland made everything clear – and so the World Cup will take place without Ibrahimović, who is now 40 years old.
A European nation can still hope
One final European spot is still up for grabs, which goes to the winner of the match between
Wales
and play-off semi-final winner
Scotland
v
Ukraine
.
This game was initially postponed because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, but it should be made up for in early June.
Ghana
were the first African team
to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, with
Senegal
following suit a little later.
In total, the African federation has five places in the finals.
Here is an overview of Africa's World Cup qualifiers, which saw massive laser pointer attacks against Egypt on penalties in Senegal.
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