Taking a Look at Europe’s World Cup Qualifying Playoffs

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: October 21, 2013

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So, following a spiffingly-basic draw in Zurich—by UEFA and FIFA standards anyway—embarrassing only for the difficulty with which it made the simple task of deciding four ties, we have our draw for Europe's World Cup playoff round.

Of the four seeds, perhaps Ukraine will be the one's cursing their luck most, having plucked a France side who have seemingly found their scoring touch of late—even Karim Benzema has netted in their last two matches.

Portugal will be pleased to have avoided Les Bleus no doubt, but Sweden will prove tough opponents. Already it's been built-up as Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and while it's a clash of two footballing behemoths with egos the size of mountains, it promises to be an excellent 180 minutes. Maybe the biggest shame is that both can't take their place in Brazil next summer.

Iceland, the great romantic tale of Europe's qualification process will be happy to play a Croatia side in the midst of something of a crisis, while Greece vs. Romania—well they'll meet one another in Athens and Bucharest.

Anyway, here's a look at all four ties:

 

Portugal vs. Sweden

As previously stated, it's being given the buildup of Cristiano vs. Zlatan, but the overall makeup of the tie is rather interesting.

Paulo Bento's side have flattered to deceive throughout qualifying, but they're no strangers to taking the playoff route, having beaten Bosnia at this stage to qualify both for the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.

And though the former Sporting coach led them to a respectable semi-final showing at Euro 2012—where only a penalty shootout defeat to Spain denied them a place in the final—they remain a side that still lack a certain amount of cohesion. 

Bento's 4-3-3 formation is tailored around keeping Ronaldo high up the pitch and utilising his club relationship with left-back Fabi...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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