Portugal’s player, Bruno Fernandes, has given their victory over North Macedonia to fans whom, he said, were impeccable in their support.
Fernandes was his country’s saviour, scoring two unreplaced goals.
This happened on a night the Super Eagles killed Nigeria’s hope of being at the prestigious game as they could only get a barren 1-1 draw against Ghana.
The second leg was played in Abuja, thus according Ghana an away edge.
Portugal and Poland claimed their spots at the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar later this year with the 2-0 and 1-0 wins against North Macedonia and Sweden respectively on Tuesday.
Portugal were in the playoffs having blown the last match of the group phase at home to Serbia, but they made no mistake in the playoffs.
They had a semi-final win over Turkey in Porto to set the stage for Tuesday’s triumph.
Midfielder Bruno Fernandes fired into the bottom corner in the 32nd minute after a neat interplay with Ronaldo.
But their opponents’ captain Stefan Ristovski will rue his inexplicable cross-field pass in midfield to concede possession.
Fernandes doubled the lead midway through the second half by sweeping home Diogo Jota’s cross to complete a fine counter-attack and deserved win in Porto’s Dragao Stadium.
“This game has to stay in the memory because we made it to the World Cup,” Fernandes later said. “It was a very important game, the fans were impeccable.
“Without detracting from any other stadium, the atmosphere was spectacular today. People realised what we needed.”
North Macedonia had stunned continental champions Italy in their semi-final but fell short of a first-ever World Cup finals appearance.
“I am satisfied with my players,” North Macedonia coach Blagoja Milevski said.
“We should be proud of the guys for what they’ve done from September until today.
“They bring great potential and talent, and are well on their way to getting closer to the best in Europe.”
