Portugal R-on Their Way: A Closer Look At The World Cup Qualifying Results

Well, I discussed it last week and the results are finally in! The winners of the week’s most exciting UEFA World Cup qualifiers were determined yesterday.

As I, and pretty much most of the world predicted, France and Portugal have finally qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  The game between Portugal and Sweden was easy to predict, especially after watching the first leg of the play-offs earlier this week. With a hat-trick by Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal ended up beating the Swedes 3-2. Funny enough, both goals for Sweden were scored by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, so this game really did come down to the two super stars, Ibra vs Ronaldo.

Lucky for all of us, Ronaldo was the one who emerged victorious. The Real Madrid star has been unstoppable recently, and if this top-notch form continues, he will be more than entertaining to watch next year in Brazil.

The game between France and Ukraine did have an interesting result, however. After losing the first leg of the play offs 2-0 France’s World Cup hopes were all but over ahead of last night's match against Ukraine. However, Les Bleus managed quite a turnaround this evening, winning the match 3-0 and earning a spot in Brazil when all was thought to be lost. France really is full of some talented players, and I am happy that they will be joining the rankings in Brazil.

Both of these fixtures had a pretty predictable outcome, but in the end, the better teams advanced. Franck Ribery and Cristiano Ronaldo are two of the best players in the world right now, and it really would have been a shame for either one of these giants to not play for their country in the World Cup.

More exciting though, the completion of these matches brings us all one-step closer to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil! I can’t wait! 

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