KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTING —– Portugal and Poland are on their way to the World Cup finals in Qatar after what should have been the last matchday in the European qualifying playoffs.

A neat and tidy conclusion had been rendered impossible by postponement of the Ukraine section after the invasion by Russian armed forces so one slot will not be resolved in the finals draw in Doha on Friday.

However Portugal and Poland will be in the glass bowls after they both scored 2-0 victories over North Macedonia and Sweden respectively in their final deciders.

Portugal’s presence means a fifth World Cup appearances for captain Cristiano Ronaldo who laid on the first of Bruno Fernandes’s two goals after careless play in midfield by North Macedonia in Porto. Ronaldo then provided a decoy run before his Manchester United club-mate shot a superb second goal on the run midway through the second half.

The Portuguese controlled the rest of the Path C final to end any hopes of the North Macedonians producing another upset to match their semi-final victory over Italy. Portugal have now qualified for the finals on six successive occasions.

In the Path B final in Warsaw visitors Sweden had the better of the first half against Poland but then fell behind to a penalty soon after the interval.

Grzegorz Krychowiak was felled in the the box by Jesper Karlstrom and the inevitable Robert Lewandowski converted the spotkick. Piotr Zielinski struck a late second after a miscontrol of the ball by Marcus Danielson.

The European qualifiers for the finals are: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland.

World federation FIFA has tentatively envisaged June for the ties which will decide the outcome between Wales and Scotland or Ukraine.

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