UEFA World Cup 2014 Qualifying: Sweden, France pull out comeback draws

If you asked Northern Ireland before the match if a point would feel like a win, they would have likely agreed. However, after leading with 10 minutes left before allowing Portugal to equalize, the point may be just a little less sweet. Still it’s a massive result for Northern Ireland and a disappointing one for Portugal.

Portugal poured on the pressure in the second half, as you would expect, peppering the Northern Ireland goal and forcing several great saves from Roy Carroll. Basically, Northern Ireland parked a really big bus in front of their goal and threw away the keys.

Dries Mertens proved not only a goal threat, but also a major source of creativity for the Belgians, and they should have opened the scoring much earlier when he set up Benteke in a good position, but the Aston Villa striker failed to react quickly enough to turn the ball home.

Eventually, the Scots’ defence could hold out no longer. A simple move found the breakthrough in the end, Kevin de Bruyne crossing from the left to find an unmarked Christian Benteke at the far post, who nodded past MacGregor’s despairing dive.

Russia are currently perfect in the group, and they might have to keep that up until they travel to Portugal next June. While Israel and Northern Ireland are decent enough to provide a bit of opposition, it would be stunning to see either Russia or Portugal slip up before that meeting. Any dropped points for Russia would put Portugal back in control of their own destiny.

Game date/time: Tuesday, 8 p.m. local time, 11 a.m. ET