Vonn crashes Peralta hat-trick during training takes Mexico 17 to World Cup THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013 19 Vettel and Webber get ready for one last battle Page 17

SWEDEN: Portugal’s forward Cristiano Ronaldo (right) and Sweden’s defender Mikael Antonsson jump over at the Friends Arena in Solna during the FIFA 2014 World Cup playoff football match. — AFP Ronaldo sends Portugal to World Cup

SOLNA: Portugal qualified for the World Cup after a superb they have a good coach, but in both games we played bet- with a header from a corner in the 68th minute. Three min- from Joao Moutinho - and could even have added to his hat trick from Cristiano Ronaldo secured a 3-2 win over ter than them, we created more chances, we played solid. utes later, Sweden won a free kick just outside the penalty goal tally later. Sweden and a 4-2 victory on aggregate in Tuesday’s “We have a mature team in these competitions, in (the) area and Ibrahimovic fired home a fierce low shot to give Ronaldo, who described Ibrahimovic as “a fantastic play- thrilling finale to their playoff. playoff, I think we deserved to win and we are the best the home team a 2-1 lead and raise a nation’s hopes of er”, acknowledged that “it felt complicated for a moment After a hesitant first half in which the Real Madrid for- team tonight.” For his part, Ibrahimovic was sporting in qualification. after they scored 2-1... we suffered a little bit.” ward missed several scoring chances, the much-awaited defeat. However, the home fans among the nearly 50,000 spec- Portugal coach Paulo Bento said he thought his team contest between two of the biggest names in world foot- “Of course I’m disappointed. I wanted to play the World tators didn’t get to cheer for long. As Sweden pushed for- put up a good performance. “We had to deal with some ball - Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic - finally burst into life Cup,” he said. “We did our best. Unfortunately, we played ward in search of a third goal and a 3-2 lead on aggregate, difficult periods, namely after the Swedish goals,” he said. in a spectacular second half. against a better team, better than us no doubt.” its defense became vulnerable to the counterattack. And “But even in that period we had a good reaction. I think we Ronaldo broke the deadlock, Ibrahimovic struck twice That difference only really showed through in an action- Ronaldo, who scored the only goal in last Friday’s first leg did it as an organization as a whole but of course we can- to make it 2-1 to the hosts on the night - only for Ronaldo packed second half. Four minutes after the break, in Lisbon made the home side pay. not underestimate how important is Cristiano for us.” to score two more to secure his team’s place in Brazil. Ibrahimovic provided a pass for Sebastian Larsson to take a Latching on to a pass by Hugo Almeida, Ronaldo For Sweden coach Erik Hamren, the post-match was all “To be honest I think in both games we played better shot that was saved by Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio. A raced through to equalize with a clinical finish in the about the pain of defeat. “It just hurts right now,” he said. “It than Sweden,” Ronaldo said. “I respect a lot Sweden, I think minute later, Ronaldo opened the scoring, set up by a 77th minute. He brought up his hat trick just two min- is a dream, an ambition that has died, it’s hurting for every- they have a fantastic team, they have experienced players, superb long pass by Joao Moutinho. Ibrahimovic equalized utes later - this time collecting a defense-splitting pass one, it’s really tough. Especially when we were close.” — AP Algeria secure Africa’s Croatia freeze Iceland, last World Cup ticket BLIDA: Algeria sealed the fifth and final African zone World Cup qualifies for World Cup qualifying berth on Tuesday, edging their play-off with Burkina Faso on away goals. ZAGREB: Ten-man Croatia qualified for the World opportunity for Mandzukic to finish with a low Last month, Algeria lost the first leg play-off 3-2 in Ougadougou Cup with a 2-0 win on Tuesday that quashed shot into the near corner. Bayern Munich striker and therefore needed just a goal to qualify for their fourth World Iceland’s hopes of reaching football’s showpiece Mandzukic was shown a straight red card after a Cup finals having featured at the 1982, 1986 and 2010 competi- tournament for the first time. tackle with his studs up against Johann tions. With Algeria’s qualification, it is the same line-up of teams Striker Dario Mandzukic scored the opener in Gudmundsson, and that changed Croatia’s tactical who represented Africa at 2010 in South Africa - Nigeria, Cameroon, the 22nd minute but was given a red card nine approach for the rest of the game. With Iceland Ivory Coast and Ghana. minutes later for a reckless tackle and left Croatia going into an all-out attack, Croatia resorted to Algeria got the goal they needed in the 49th minute through with 10 men for the remainder of the match. But counter-attacks. skipper Madjid Bougherra off a goal mouth scramble caused by a the home team maintained its attacking domi- Captain Srna doubled the lead two minutes free-kick. nance and Darijo Srna made it 2-0 in the 47th. into the second half when his shot from some 18 The Stallions of Burkina Faso, beaten finalists at this year’s Africa The defeat ended Iceland’s bid to become the meters (yards) from the right bounced in front of Cup of Nations, were thus denied the chance to reach a first-ever smallest nation - in terms of population - to reach Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldersson and end- World Cup. the World Cup finals. Croatia, a semifinalist in ed up in the left corner of the goal. Around 40 Algerian football fans were injured before kick-off at 1998, qualified for its fourth World Cup since “We were focused throughout the playoffs and the game which had attracted a packed house of 40,000 at the sta- becoming an independent state in 1991. it was worth it,” Srna said. “We had no right to dis- dium 50 kilometres south of Algiers, the APS news agency said, cit- “Croatia deserved to win,” Iceland defender appoint our fans. Mandzukic’s sending off only ing police reports. Ragnar Sigurdsson said. “It was the better team, gave us the wind in our backs.” The stadium was packed to capacity as early as six hours before especially today, and there is no doubt it deserves Openings in Iceland’s defense only created the match was due to kickoff despite the cold and rainy conditions. to go to Brazil. We felt it might go better for us more chances for the Croats. Ivica Olic hit the It was an even exchange between the two teams at the start of ALGERIA: Islam Slimane (left) of Algeria and Benjamin Balima after Mandzukic was sent off, but we did not get crossbar with a spectacular overhead shot and this match staged inside a packed Mustapha Tchaker Stadium in (right) of Burkina Faso vie for the ball during their World Cup any space on the pitch.” Perisic failed to convert a one-on-one situation Blida. qualifying match. — AFP Last Friday in Reykjavik, Iceland overcame the against the Iceland goalkeeper. “We are really hap- The home team were first to settle down and they continued to In first half stoppage time, Burkina Faso goalkeeper Daouda second-half red card of Olafur Skulason to hold on py to make it to the World Cup,” Croatia and Real attack Burkina Faso, whose solid and packed defence kept them Diakite smothered a low shot by El Arabi Soudani. In the 57th for the 0-0 draw against Croatia, keeping the Madrid midfielder Luka Modric said. “Iceland was out. minute, Slimane let fly from inside the box but his powerful snap Nordic nation in contention for a spot at Brazil in tough to play against, but we were a better team The Algeria goalkeeper Mohamed Zemmamouche kept out a shot missed its mark even with the Burkina goalkeeper beaten. 2014. But on Tuesday, Iceland had few chances in the playoffs.” desperate defensive clearance that was headed for goal in the 11th Chances were few and far between in this physical contest, against an inspired Croatian team. “Pressure was Iceland was surprisingly unbeaten in its last minute. The first big chance fell to Algeria in the 21st minute, when which was marred by countless stoppages. With the ticket to Brazil huge, this was not easy game to play,” Croatia five games on the road in these World Cup qualifi- Islam Slimane was allowed a free header off a cross from the left 2014 slipping away from them, Burkina Faso’s Belgian coach Paul coach Niko Kovac said. “But at the end, it could cations. “Croatia was a better and more experi- right inside the box, but he failed to direct it on target. Put threw in forwards Aristide Bance and Alain Traore in the closing have easily been 5-0.” enced opponent and showed its strength,” Iceland Algeria captain Bougherra was booked in the 44th minute for a minutes. In stoppage time, Burkina Faso saw a last-ditch effort Croatia took the lead when Ivan Rakitic crossed veteran striker Eidur Gudjohnsen said. “Still, we double-footed tackle on his Burkina Faso counterpart Charles crash against the post, but it was not enough for this west African from the right, Ivan Perisic deflected the ball in have to be proud of what we have done in this Kabore as the hosts began to display their frustration. nation. — AFP the heart of the penalty box, creating a clear World Cup campaign.” — AP