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The irrepressible Cristiano Ronaldo scored a dazzling hat trick to send Portugal into the 2014 World Cup finals at the expense of Zlatan Ibrahimovics Sweden on Tuesday, while France advanced by conjuring a remarkable turnaround against Ukraine. There was disappointment in the playoffs for Iceland, however, after the Nordic country failed in its bid to become the least populous nation to reach footballs biggest stage after losing to Croatia on a thrilling final night in European qualification. Ronaldo came out on top in his personal duel with fellow superstar Ibrahimovic, whose brace in Stockholm was upstaged by the Real Madrid forwards three brilliant goals in 29 second-half minutes. Portugal won 3-2 for a 4-2 aggregate victory. France overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit to Ukraine by winning 3-0 in Paris, with strikes by Mamadou Sakho and Karim Benzema as well as an own goal ensuring Les Bleus qualified for a 10th consecutive major tournament. Iceland lost 2-0 to 10-man Croatia at Zabreb and was eliminated by the same score on aggregate, and Greece was the other European nation to make it to Brazil through the playoffs after drawing 1-1 in Romania to progress 4-2 overall. The list of African qualifiers was completed with Ghana advancing 7-3 on aggregate over Egypt despite a 2-1 loss in Cairo and Algeria progressing on away goals at the expense of Burkino Faso. Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Cameroon had already won their playoffs. Mexico qualified Wednesday after beating New Zealand 4-2 in the second leg of an inter-continental playoff, bringing an end to one of its most troubled and divisive qualifying campaigns. Striker Oribe Peralta followed his double in the opening leg with a hat trick at Wellington to send his team to Brazil with an aggregate score of 9-3 over the two matches. The final berth for the 32-team World Cup will be secured later Wednesday as Uruguay protects a 5-0 lead over Jordan. The draw for the group stage of the 2014 World Cup takes place in Bahia, Brazil, on Dec. 6. Spain endured a miserable return to the scene of its World Cup triumph in 2010, losing 1-0 to South Africa at FNB Stadium -- the venue formerly known as Soccer City -- in one of a host of international friendlies. A virtually second-string Germany team consigned fierce rival England to back-to-back losses at Wembley Stadium for the first time in 36 years by winning 1-0, and Netherlands played with 10 men for almost an hour but still drew 0-0 with Colombia. While France was engineering the greatest recovery of the playoffs, Ronaldo proved once again he is the man for the big occasion, continuing a prolific season in which he could yet wrestle the World Player of the Year award from great rival Lionel Messi. He had already trumped Ibrahimovic by scoring the winner in the first leg on Friday, but the rivalry between arguably the two biggest showmen in the sport climbed to new levels at the Friends Arena. Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 50th minute but Ibrahimovic netted twice in four minutes to level the score on aggregate and give Sweden hope. That was quickly extinguished by two pieces of brilliance from Ronaldo, who burst through to power home a left-footed in the 77th before latching onto another through-ball and smashing into the roof of the net two minutes later. "Of course, we cannot underestimate how important is Cristiano for us," Portugal coach Paulo Bento said. His second hat trick in international football, to go with his 24 at club level for Manchester United and Real Madrid, sparked jubilant scenes of celebration as Portugals coaching staff and substitutes spilled onto the pitch. That was possibly the last chance for the 32-year-old Ibrahimovic to play at a World Cup, but football fans will be thrilled that both Ronaldo and Frances Franck Ribery -- two of the favourites for this years Ballon dOr -- will be in Brazil. Ribery took a back seat on Tuesday as Benzema and, more surprisingly, central defender Sakho ushered 1998 world champion France to next years tournament. Didier Deschamps lifted the World Cup in the Stade de France 15 years ago in his finest moment as a player and this fightback, against a Ukraine lineup known for his doughty defence, probably tops his achievements as a coach. "Ive experienced some great moments but this one is special. Its fabulous," Deschamps said. France levelled the aggregate score at 2-2 by halftime through close-range goals by Sakho and the recalled Benzema before Ukraine was reduced to 10 men in the 47th when fullback Yevhen Khacheridi was red-carded for fouling Ribery. Worse was to follow for the visitors as substitute Oleg Gusev turned a driven cross into his own net under pressure from Sakho, putting the French through. "We took a big slap in Ukraine," Ribery said, "and we woke up." Croatia qualified for its fourth World Cup since becoming an independent state in 1991 and quashed Icelands hopes of reaching footballs showpiece tournament for the first time. Striker Dario Mandzukic scored in the 22nd minute to put Croatia ahead on aggregate but was given a red card nine minutes later for a reckless tackle. Iceland, whose population is only around 320,000, couldnt capitalize and Darijo Srnas 47th-minute goal sealed victory for the hosts. Adidas Superstar Pink Shoes . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. Yeezy Boost 350 Oxford Tan Price . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. http://www.superstaraushoes.com/adidas-originals-nmd.html .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. Adidas Nmd For Sale . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Adidas Zx 750 Black . With Parker having a quiet game for once, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw provided the scoring as France won its first major basketball title by beating Lithuania 80-66 on Sunday. It was a victory that ended a decade of frustration for Parker and a talented French generation, which lost the final against Spain two years ago and took bronze in 2005. HOUSTON -- The last time the Houston Rockets scored more than 70 points in a first half they followed it with a franchise-low 19 points after halftime. They had no such letdown Monday night against the Portland Trail Blazers. Chandler Parsons scored a season-high 31 points and Dwight Howard added 24 to lead the Rockets to a 126-113 win over Portland that snapped the Trail Blazers five-game winning streak. The Rockets scored a season-high to win their second straight, building a big lead early and answering every time Portland made a run. James Harden added 22 points and had five assists and Patrick Beverley returned from a broken hand to score 17 points. Parsons added 10 rebounds and seven assists while finishing one point shy of his career-high. Harden talked about the difference between Monday night and last weeks loss to Oklahoma City, when they set an NBA record for the largest scoring differential between two halves. "We just held our composure," Harden said. "We couldnt worry about what they were doing or anything. We had to figure out a way to fight through it and play harder, push the tempo a little harder and play defence." LaMarcus Aldridge had 27 points and 20 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who have won seven of their last 11 games. "We got close and we just couldnt get over that hump," Aldridge said. "Our shots didnt fall for us and they made tough shots and were able to get the win." Houston was up by 18 points after a 3-pointer by Harden with about eight minutes left. The Trail Blazers used a 9-2 run over the next two minutes to cut it to 115-104. The Rockets struggled in that stretch, missing two layups and committing a turnover. Houston missed two 3-pointers on one possession after that before Beverley hit a jump shot. Howard gave Houston a 119-104 lead when he grabbed an alley-oop from Harden and finished with a two-handed slam. Damian Lillard added 24 points for Portland and Wesley Matthews had 18. A 7-0 run by Portland midway through the third quarter got the Trail Blazers within six points. The Rockets scored the next seven straight to pad their lead to 93-80. "They made a run in the third quarter and instead of us complaining, we got to the bench and we talked about what we needed to do and we got a good win against a very, very good team," Howard said.dddddddddddd Jeremy Lin made a 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds left in the third quarter to make it 106-91 entering the fourth. Harden was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws before hitting a 3-pointer for a 6-0 run that pushed Houstons lead to 79-61 early in the third quarter. The Trail Blazers answered with a 9-0 spurt to cut the lead to 79-70. Aldridge had a 3-point play during that stretch and Lillard capped it with two free throws when he was fouled by Howard, who also got a technical on the play. The Rockets scored for the first time in almost three minutes on a layup by Parsons with about seven minutes left in the quarter. Nicolas Batum made a layup before Parsons added a 3-pointer to extend Houstons lead to 84-72. Mo Williams got Portland within seven points when he opened the second quarter with a jump shot. But Houston countered with eight straight points powered by two 3-pointers from Omri Casspi to push the lead to 45-30. Five straight points by Matthews a couple of minutes later cut Houstons lead to 12 points. The Rockets responded again, scoring seven points in a row to extend the lead to 60-41. Casspi scored five quick points soon after that to extend Houstons lead to 71-49. Portland scored the last seven points of the half to get within 71-56 at the break. The Rockets made 10 of 13 3-pointers in the first half to help them to score more than 70 points in a half for the second time in a week. Houston scored on its first 11 possessions to build a 25-11 lead. Beverley, who returned to the starting lineup after missing 14 games following surgery to repair a broken right hand, had two 3-pointers in that span and Harden had one. NOTES: Houstons Terrence Jones, who scored a career-high 36 points in the last game, sat out with a deep thigh bruise. Donatas Motiejunas started in his place and finished with nine points and nine rebounds. ... The Trail Blazers have scored at least 98 points in 29 games in a row. ... Batum injured one of his fingers and said he "felt it crack" but wasnt sure of the extent of the injury after the game. Cheap China Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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