Russia will be present in Brazil for the FIFA 2014 World Cup after getting the point needed away in Azerbaijan to qualify from Group F ahead of Portugal by one point (22 to 21). In the event Russia had a goal difference of plus 15 against Portugal's 11. Now the best 8 runners-up in UEFA will compete in the remaining four places in a play-off phase.
Azerbaijan 1 Russia 1
Shirokov placed the first goal in the net for Russia after 15' after a great pass from Samedov. Ten-man Azerbaijan leveled the game on 90' (Javadov).
Portugal 3 Luxembourg 0
Varela, Nani and Postiga scored Portugal's three goals but it was not enough.
UEFA Groups, Leaders and runners-up
Group A Belgium and Croatia; Group B Italy and Denmark; Group C Germany and Sweden; Group D Netherlands and Romania; Group E Switzerland and Iceland; Group F Russia and Portugal; Group G Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece; Group H England and Ukraine; Group I Spain and France.
FIFA has decided to seed the second-placed teams in order of their international ranking, so the eight teams playing in the play-off phase will be:
Croatia (ranking place 10), Portugal (11), Greece (12) and Sweden (22)
against
Denmark (23), France (25), Ukraine (26) and Romania (31).
Iceland (54) is eliminated after a magnificent campaign in Group E. The play-offs will take place on November 15 and 19.
Aleksei Federov
Pravda.Ru