World Cup Qualification: Stanciu and Nita unluckily finish, the Czechs face Portugal in the barrier

We will not see Nicolae Stancio or Florin Nita at the World Championships in Qatar. Romania didn’t even make it to the barrage, while a tough play-off awaits the Portuguese. How did the other national teams play?

Group A

Group A saw an unexpected win for Serbia over Portugal. The Portuguese defended the whole second half and scored in the setup to make it 1: 2. In a match played in parallel, Ireland overwhelmingly defeated Luxembourg 3: 0.

The Serbians jumped to first place in the table and after four years they will be back in the big tournament. On the other hand, Cristiano Ronaldo and co. will have to play in the barrage.

Group H

In the “háček” it looked like Russia would go straight through for a long time, but Fyodor Kudryashov scored an own goal in the 81st minute and the Croatians kept their narrow lead. Slovakia beat Malta 6:0 and Slovenia beat Cyprus 2:1.

Croatia will go straight to the tournament, the Russians will have to play a barrage, but they will be seeded. The Slovaks and Slovenians were eight points short of the barrage, but for Cyprus and Malta, gaining five points is probably a success.

Group J

In Group J, the Germans shot again, crushing Armenia 4:1. The Romanians won in Liechtenstein (2: 0), but it was not enough to qualify for the barrier, as North Macedonia managed to beat Iceland (3: 1).

Thus, Germany passed through the qualification with only one loss, while Macedonia will have to qualify for the Euro next. Florin Nito and Nicolae Stancio missed the play-off for the big tournament by one point.

Nothing has changed in the last group. The Spaniards beat the Swedes as expected and are through, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s teammates will face a barrage. The Swedes should be seeded.

Source