FIFA World Cup qualifiers: Cristiano Ronaldo sets up Swiss showdown; France close in
While Portugal national football team struggled and beat Andorra 2-0, using Cristiano Ronaldo as substitute, Group B leader Switzerland national football team’s 5-2 win vs Hungary ran its own win streak to nine in FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers. In Group A, leader France football team beat Bulgaria, while the Netherlands need a miracle against Sweden in their final game despite beating Belarus 3-1
Andorra vs Portugal 0-2 – All Goals & Highlights
Cristiano Ronaldo scored and helped Portugal national football team win an eighth straight game in World Cup qualifying on Saturday — and still could fail to qualify.
While Portugal were labouring to beat Andorra 2-0, using their superstar as a substitute, Group B leaders Switzerland national football team’s 5-2 win over visiting Hungary ran its own win streak to nine. And the Swiss still could fail to advance.
It set up a showdown game in Lisbon on Tuesday that Portugal must win while the Swiss need only a draw to top the group and avoid the playoffs next month.
“If you win nine out of nine and you can still have fear of not qualifying, it’s anyway a bit complicated,” Switzerland captain Stephan Lichtsteiner said.
France’s third-minute goal in Bulgaria was enough for a 1-0 win to retain the Group A lead by one point from Sweden, which earlier routed Luxembourg 8-0.
Andorra vs Portugal 0-2 – All Goals & Highlights
The third-place Netherlands need a miracle in its final game at home to Sweden on Tuesday, despite winning 3-1 in Belarus.
Belgium already qualified from Group H last month, and won 4-3 in Bosnia-Herzegovina to dent the home team’s chance of claiming a playoffs place as one of the eight best runners-up in the nine European groups.