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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. Padres Jerseys 2019 . - Loosening up for their first training camp practice, the Miami Dolphins high-stepped sideways up and down the field while House of Pains song "Jump Around" blared on the loudspeakers. Fake Padres Jerseys .com) - Many people at Eastern Washington are waiting to see if star quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. https://www.cheappadresjerseys.us/ . -- The Los Angeles Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with reliever Brandon Lyon that includes an invitation to their big league camp for spring training. Stitched Padres Jerseys . Though the 26-year-old said he was able to participate, coach Dwane Casey kept Johnson out as a precaution. Cheap Padres Jerseys . Colorado came up big against Chicago last spring, and repeated that performance Tuesday night. Varlamov stopped 36 shots and Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche in a 5-1 victory over the Blackhawks.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Chicago Blackhawks will try to get another winning streak started on Tuesday night as they take on the rival Minnesota Wild for the first time this season. The Blackhawks had a season-high eight-game winning streak snapped with a road loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday, but bounced right back the following day with a 2-1 win over the visiting Calgary Flames. Chicago took advantage of a Calgary miscue to score the winning goal with 7:03 to play in the third period. The Flames Johnny Gaudreau fell down and lost control of the puck just inside the Chicago zone, triggering a counter rush for the Blackhawks. Jonathan Toews then dished to Brandon Saad, who scored glove side on the breakaway. It was perfect, Saad said of Toews pass. It was a great play. Toews also assisted on Patrick Sharps goal, while Antti Raanta made 23 saves. Raanta played for the first time since Dec. 5 as rookie Scott Darling had started each of Chicagos previous four games. The two have been manning the crease with No. 1 goaltender Corey Crawford out with a lower-body injury. Raanta lost the only time he faced the Wild, giving up two goals on 19 shots, while the rookie Darling has never faced them. Minnesota looks to finish off a three-game road trip with another win, having bested the Arizona Coyotes in a shootout on Saturday after losing the opener of the swing in San Jose last Thursday. Zach Parise sccored a game-tying goal on the power play with 5:53 left in regulation on Saturday, then scored in the shootout along with Mikko Koivu for a 4-3 win.dddddddddddd I thought that our guys, not only the urgency, the way that we executed and I thought it was a good job, Wild coach Mike Yeo said. Nino Niederreiter and Jason Zucker also scored and Niklas Backstrom made 26 saves for the Wild, who are looking to win consecutive games for the first time since a four-game run from Nov 13-20. They have split their past 11 games. Minnesota was without defenseman Jared Spurgeon on Saturday due to illness. He did not practice on Monday nor did he travel with the team to Chicago, while fellow blueliner Keith Ballard remains out with a concussion and facial fractures suffered last Tuesday. Defenseman Marco Scandella, though, is eligible to return from a two-game suspension handed down following an illegal hit versus the New York Islanders a week ago. Minnesota returns home to face Boston on Wednesday, so Backstrom and Darcy Kuemper could both see action over the next two nights. Kuemper is 1-0-0 with a 1.22 goals against average and .959 save percentage in two games (1 start) versus the Blackhawks, while Backstrom is 6-9-1 with a 2.82 GAA and .913 save percentage against them. This is the first of five meetings between the Wild and Blackhawks this season. Minnesota went 3-1-1 versus Chicago in 2013-14. ' ' '