Portugal loses qualifier—Ronaldo still waiting to qualify for his last World Cup
It was supposed to be a good match, but a win for Portugal, according to pundits. Instead, a determined and talented Serbian team took the game to its fancied opponents and won in a thrilling come-from-behind encounter to seal the automatic berth from the group for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. The legend Cristiano Ronaldo’s hope of making it to his, in all probability, last World Cup now depends on the play-offs.
On Sunday, top teams like Portugal, Spain and Croatia had the opportunity to secure tickets for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, to be played from November 21 to December 18. Spain and Croatia did qualify—the former, courtesy an 86th-minute goal by Alvaro Morata against Sweden (a draw would have sufficed as well) and the latter, via an own goal by Russia—but Portugal lost to a determined Serbian side.
Along with Portugal’s loss, the hopes of Cristiano Ronaldo too—in what would, in all probability, be his last Cup, considering he is 36—took a big setback. Serbia clinched the automatic berth from group A in the European zone.
It was a thrilling 2-1 comeback win for a side favoured to lose to the star-studded Portuguese. The credit for the win must also go to the coach, Dragan Stojkovic, one of the world’s best midfielders in his time (the late 80s and 90s), who hasn’t lost a qualifier since being appointed last March after the sacking of the earlier coach.
A 90th-minute header by half-time substitute Aleksandar Mitrovic lifted Serbia into the group’s top spot on 20 points, three more than second-placed Portugal, which only needed a draw (as it had a better goal difference, despite being on level points) to finish on top and qualify.
The Serbians’ tactics were spot on. They kept their opponent’s talismanic captain Ronaldo stifled, and kept on attacking for most of the match. The tactics paid dividends, not only in the form of the equaliser in the 33rd minute but also the decider at the fag end.
As for Ronaldo’s and Portugal’s hopes, here’s how it would play out: The winners of each of the 10 groups from Europe automatically qualify for the tournament, while three more teams will seal their places at the end of the play-offs in March. The 10 group runners-up and the two best group winners from the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League’s overall ranking, that have neither qualified directly as group winners nor entered the play-offs, will be drawn into three play-off paths (that is, three groups of four teams each) for one-off semi-finals and a final. The three path winners will qualify for the World Cup.
