By Vivem Soriano
Eagle News Service
Switzerland 0-0 Northern Ireland (1-0 agg.)
Switzerland advances to next year’s World Cup in Russia with a 1-0 aggregate win over Northern Ireland after a pressure-packed 0-0 draw in the second leg of their World Cup Qualifier in Basel.
The Northern Irish were in full attack mode from the onset. They increased the pressure against the home side in the second half and it almost paid off in the 60th minute after George Saville nearly scored a goal.
Jonny Evans’ header again almost gave Northern Ireland an equalizing goal in the the dying seconds of the match but the home side cleared it just off the line to preserve the draw and the aggregate win.
Croatia 0-0 Greece (4-1 agg.)
In Athens, Croatia booked their ticket to Russia next year with a relatively uneventful 0-0 draw with Greece in the second leg of their qualifying draw.
The Greeks almost scored one in at the 78th minute but the goal was waived off as a clear offside.
Croatia was content to just playing defense against the 2004 European champions through most of the match as they already have a comfortable aggregate lead. The Greeks didn’t help their own cause as well as they failed to give the Croatian defense enough threat to pressure them on the offensive side to commit mistakes and force scoring opportunities.
