Ibrahimovic Or Ronaldo: Which Superstar Won't Be At Next Year's World Cup?

World Cup Qualifying Campaigns

Portugal's World Cup qualifying campaign has taken its usual twists and turns with Ronaldo missing 2 matches through injury. The team eventually did enough to book a play-off berth, with Russia earning automatic qualification after topping the group. Ronaldo was kept quiet for most of the qualifiers but his hat-trick in Portugal's win over Northern Ireland all but secured the crucial second spot. In the end Portugal finished just 1 point behind Russia while Ronaldo finished the group stage with 4 goals. Ibrahimovi‡ missed a match and Sweden was always fighting for second spot in group C, with one of the World Cup favourites Germany dominating the group. But with the likes of Austria and The Republic of Ireland also in the group, finishing second wouldn't be easy. The Swedes were on the back foot early after losing to Germany in their opening encounter before collecting 20 points in 9 games, which included a pulsating 4-4 draw with the group winners. The tally was enough to earn Sweden a play-off berth after beating Austria to group runners up. Ibrahimovi‡ scored 6 of Sweden's 19 goals to finish in the top 10 European goal scorers for the group stage.