Portugal booked their berth at the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil courtesy another stellar display from their talisman skipper Cristiano Ronaldo, who stepped up on the big night once again and led his team to World Cup finals.

A frantic game ended 3-2 in favour of Portugal on the night (4-2 on agg.) with the two superstars on either side starring for their respective teams. This play-off encounter was dubbed as the battle between the heavy scoring stalwarts Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo, and clash turned out to be exactly that.

Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund has hailed his players’ attitude in their famous win over World and European champions as a sign of good things to come. A goal in the 56th minute by striker Bernard Parker, his 19th in Bafana Bafana colours was enough for Igesund’s charges to record perhaps their biggest victory in recent times.

While many had written off Igesund’s men as outright underdogs, the boys showed a lot of character, guts and determination.

Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund says his side will not roll up and die against Spain but will compete. Igesund was speaking to the media at the end of the national team’s two-hour training session in sweltering heat at the FNB Stadium where South Africa and Spain will meet in an international friendly match scheduled for Tuesday, 19 November 2013.

All the players are in camp for the match, dubbed “The Champions are Coming,” including late call-up Tebogo Langerman who has replaced the injured Tsepo Masilela.

The final spot from the European qualifying pot is hanging in the balance after Iceland and Croatia drew blanks in Reykjavik. A red cad dominated proceedings on the night as Olafur Ingi Skulason saw straight red in the 50th minute for a foul on Ivan Perisic. Gylfi Sigurdsson was the home side’s best outlet in the 1st half while Perisic was equally effective for the Croats, albeit without a clear cut chance being created.

The Croats threw everything they had at Iceland after gaining a man advantage in search of that elusive away goal. Ivica Olic, Ivan Rakitic and Perisic all went close for Croatia, with keeper Hannes Thor Halldorsson throwing himself at every shot to keep a clean sheet. The 0-0 draw gives Iceland a slight advantage going into the 2nd leg next week, with an away goal worth twice its price for the tiny nation but Croatia will also be confident of finding the back of the net on Tuesday.

Greece enjoyed the most comfortable evening in the play-offs as they made their home advantage count with a comprehensive victory over Romania, who only have the consolation of an away goal to take back home. Kostas Mitroglou got the ball rolling for the home side in the 14th minute with an expertly timed run to beat the offside trap and collect Dimitris Salpingidis’ pass over the defence.

But Romania equalized immediately through Bogdan Stancu, who turned in Gabriel Torje’s free-kick in the 18th minute. The Greeks regained their lead in the 21st minute though as another quick counter resulted in Vasilis Torosidis breaking the offside trap and squaring the ball to Salpingidis, who performed the simple task off beating the keeper.

Trouble in the French camp is as commonplace as danger in the jungle and Didier Deschamps is now facing the prospect of being the first manager not to take France to a World Cup in two decades. Les Blues’ waterloo moment came in the cold of Kiev where they succumbed to two late goals, a penalty and Laurent Koscielny’s sending off.

France rarely threatened their opponents from open play, depending on Fran Ribery’s set-pieces to break past the frugal Ukraine defence. The first blow arrived just after the hour mark when Roman Zozulya capped off a great team move with a patient finish from close range. The striker waited for his marker and Hugo Lloris to go to the ground before picking a spot in the bottom corner.