UEFA 2014 World Cup qualifying playoffs: Ronaldo fires Portugal to first leg win

Mitroglu got the hosts off to a great start as he sent the home fans wild with delight by scoring the opener. After a free kick was initially cleared, the Romanian defence stepped up but allowed the Olympiakos man to escape their attention, and he placed a calm finish into the net to give advantage to Greece.

The hosts didn’t have the lead for long, however. Romania equalised almost immediately afterwards, also from a set piece. Gabriel Torje’s delivery appeared to be heading out of play, but Stancu rose highest and managed to beat Orestis Karnezis at his near post to swing the tie in favour of the visitors.

That was as exciting as it got in the first half. Fortunately, the second had more action. France began piling on the pressure, but once again it was the hosts who created the better chance. This time, however, they made it count. Edmar was the creator once more, but Roman Zozulya did the hard work, shrugging off a trio of defenders and then poking goalward. Lloris got a touch, but couldn’t prevent the ball trickling over the line.

Their luck soon ran out.

Sebastian Larsson had the best chance of the first half, but Rui Patricio came up with a big save to keep Sweden off the scoreboard. Johan Elmander set up his shot from 12 yards with a square ball that Ibrahimovic let fall to Larsson in space with a great dummy run, but the ensuing shot was right to the center of the goal. Two minutes later, Sweden’s second best chance came when Kim Kallstrom missed inches wide with a free kick.

Portugal were very unlucky not to score in the 50th minute off an incredible pinball sequence in the Sweden penalty area. Andreas Isaksson flapped at the ball, which hit off his face at one point, and Mikael Lustig had to clear the ball off the line. Ronaldo’s follow-up shot flew just over the crossbar.

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There’s also every incentive for Les Bleus to go for it at the Olympic Stadium -- some away goals would go a long way toward Completely securing qualification. So there’s incentive for both teams to come out and attack, which means we might see the rare important international game that’s also entertaining. Fun times to be had by all!

Ukraine starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Andriy Pyatov; Artem Fedetskyi, Yevken Khacheridi, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Vyacheslav Shevchuk; Anatoliy Tymoschuk, Ruslan Rotan; Andriy Yarmolenko, Edmar Halovskyi, Yevhen Konoplyanka; Roman Zozulya.

Rumors swirled on Thursday that Portugal would start Cristiano Ronaldo up top with two wingers flanking him, but Helder Postiga has made the starting lineup. That means that Ronaldo will operate in his usual spot, on the wing. The rest of Portugal’s team is very standard, and they should have an advantage in the center of midfield.

Sweden starts Zlatan Ibrahimovic in his usual spot for them, in the hole behind Johan Elmander. Alexander Kacaniklic gets the nod out wide ahead of Ola Toivonen and Sweden’s two natural wingers, Jimmy Durmaz and Erkan Zengin.

The two sides meet in the first leg in Icelandic capital Reykjavík on Friday, with the hosts unbeaten in their last four competitive games. In contrast, Croatia haven’t picked up a meaningful victory since beating Wales back in March, though should be able to bounce back with a victory -- despite Iceland boasting Premier League regulars Aron Gunnarsson and Gylfi Sigurðsson among their few household names.

Projected lineups

Head coach Deschamps was a part of the French team that missed out in 1994 after losing their final two qualifying matches against Israel and Bulgaria.

For Ukraine, the playoff round has been the bane of their World Cup hopes in recent years. Since their quarterfinal finish in 2006, Ukraine have failed to qualify for the finals, falling in the playoff round ahead of the 1998, 2002 and 2010 World Cups.