United quartet qualify for World Cup

Tuesday 29 March 2022 23:00

Four more Manchester United players could appear at this winter’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar after their respective nations qualified on Tuesday evening.

Bruno Fernandes scored both goals as Portugal beat North Macedonia 2-0 in their play-off final at the Estádio do Dragao. 

Our no.18’s opener came following a superb link-up with Reds team-mate and Portuguese captain Cristiano Ronaldo in the first half, before he found the target again after the break with a sublime finish. 

Ronaldo played the 90 minutes, skippering his nation to what could be his fifth edition of the prestigious competition, while Diogo Dalot was an unused substitute. 

 

Elsewhere, United midfielder Hannibal helped Tunisia to see out a 1-0 aggregate win over Mali to advance from the African section of the qualifiers. 

Taking a one-goal lead into the second leg, the Carthage Eagles played out a goalless draw with our youngster introduced as a late substitute in Tunis. 

However, it was contrasting emotions for Victor Lindelof and Anthony Elanga’s Sweden who missed out on qualification following a 2-0 defeat away to Poland in Chorzow.

With the deadlock still intact at the break, Robert Lewandowski’s 49th-minute penalty edged the hosts in front before Piotr Zielinski scored the second in the closing stages.

Lindelof captained his country for the 90 minutes, while Elanga, who made his senior debut for the country last week, was introduced from the bench in the second half. 

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Anthony Elanga made his Sweden senior debut last night, and shared his pride on social media.

Earlier in the day, Zidane Iqbal was an unused sub as Iraq’s road to Qatar came to a close in the third round of the Asian qualifiers. They needed to beat Syria to have a realistic chance of advancing to the next stage of qualifying, but could only draw 1-1.

The UAE have instead progressed to the next stage where they will face Australia for the right to contest Peru in the AFC CONMEBOL Intercontinental play-off in June, in which a place at the World Cup will be on the line. 

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The Reds are back in action, three weeks on from our last Premier League outing.

WHAT ELSE HAPPENED IN TUESDAY’S INTERNATIONALS?

Our Reds were also involved in friendly action on Tuesday, as the international break comes to a close. 

Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw helped England to a 3-0 win over Eric Bailly’s Ivory Coast at Wembley, while Raphael Varane captained France to a 5-0 victory against Ivory Coast, in which Paul Pogba was a second-half substitute. 

Scott McTominay also came off the bench, for Scotland, as his nation drew 2-2 away to Austria. 

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