Who qualified for the World Cup?
by FFE Sports News staff
The FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifiers is on its way to rounding up the list of 32 countries that will vie for the top spot next year in Brazil.
Here are the countries whose teams made it through the preliminaries and have qualified for the World Cup 2014:
The last spot in the final 32 is still being formally fought by Uruguay and Jordan today. Howerver, Uruguay’s 5-0 win against Jordan last week had already guaranteed the former’s place in the final list.
Real Madrid and Portuguese national football team superstar Cristiano Ronaldo sealed Portugal’s win on Tuesday with a hat trick against Sweden. After securing the team’s 4-2 win on aggregate, Ronaldo said ‘I know Portugal needed me in these matches and I showed I am here.’
France also landed a spot in the final 32 after their on aggregate 3-2 win against Ukraine. Having lost the first match to Ukraine in Ukraine Karim Benzema once and Mamadou Sakho scored twice for France on Tuesday’s match in France leading to the World Cup qualifier’s biggest comeback in years.
Coach Didier Deschamps was rewarded with a contract extension from the French Football Federation. He said ‘It was important for French football to be in Brazil next year — when we’ve got all the ingredients we can do great things.’
Konstaninos Mitroglou of Greece landed an early strike for the team. But the country’s aggregate 4-2 score allowed them to enter the final 32.
The final draw will be held on 6 December. Seeding for the draw will be based on the team’s FIFA 2013 World Rankings.