World Cup Qualifying: France, Portugal Qualify; Switzerland, Greece to Playoff
The final night of World Cup Qualifying was brought to a conclusion with ultimately comfortable passages through to next year's finals in Russia for both France and Portugal.
Les Blues secured top spot in Group A with a 2-1 victory over Belarus in Paris - courtesy of goals from Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud - although the result proved inconsequential due to Sweden's defeat in the Netherlands. An Arjen Robben inspired 2-0 win was not enough for the Dutch, who had needed to win by a seven-goal margin to achieve a play-off place.
In Group B, where it had been all to play for at the summit prior to kick-off, Portugal saw off the challenge of Switzerland to qualify by virtue of a superior goal difference. An own-goal from Johan Djourou and a second-half strike from the prolific Andre Silva helped the impressive hosts emerge on top in Lisbon.
But the Swiss will accompany the Swedes in the play-offs to decide who joins France, Portugal and co.
Elsewhere, Greece took their place in the play-offs with a convincing 4-0 win over minnows Gibraltar in Group H, and left Slovakia - who had finished runners-up to England in Group F - as the unfortunate second-placed nation with the fewest points.
And emphatically rounding off an imperious qualification campaign, nine points ahead of the Greeks, was Belgium, who eased past Cyprus with goals from Eden and Thorgan Hazard, and of course Romelu Lukaku.
Bosnia-Herzegovina had been hopeful of an unlikely Greece slip-up, but they were left disappointed despite scoring a late winner in their own game against Estonia.
There was little to play for but pride elsewhere in Europe. Luxembourg managed a commendable draw against Bulgaria, a game in which they led, and the point saw them leap above Belarus.
In the battle for Group B's third place, Hungary narrowly defeated a dogged Faroe Islands side, whose ten points was an admirable total in a table dominated by two sides.
The two sides that had done exactly the opposite of dominate - Latvia and Andorra - also met on the final evening, the former handing out a 4-0 thrashing to leave the latter in a very familiar position; bottom.
