Borussia Dortmund internationals: Portugal fail to book World Cup spot, Germany thrash Armenia

Julian Brandt helped Germany earn a 4-1 win over Armenia, while Portugal were stunned by Serbia and now face a tricky road to World Cup qualification.

It was a dramatic evening in the European qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup, as a 90th minute winner from Aleksandar Mitrovic helped Serbia automatically qualify for next year’s tournament at Portugal’s expense. The Euro 2016 winners will now have to make it out of the play-offs if they want to book their ticket to Qatar.

Portugal were without Borussia Dortmund left-back Raphael Guerreiro, who is still working on his comeback from a muscle injury.

Cristiano Ronaldo and co. only needed a draw to automatically qualify for the World Cup. And they took the lead in just the second minute through former Bayern Munich midfielder Renato Sanches. But Dusan Tadic equalised for Serbia in the first-half, before Mitrovic’s 90th minute goal helped them get the win they needed to pip Portugal and go top in Group A.

Portugal will now have to go through the play-off rounds for a spot at the 2022 World Cup. A total of 12 teams will take part in the play-offs, and only three of those teams will qualify for the World Cup. The play-off rounds will take place in March and will feature one-off semi-finals and a final.

Elsewhere, Julian Brandt came off the bench and helped Germany earn a 4-1 win over Armenia. Goals from Kai Havertz, Ilkay Gündogan and Jonas Hofmann helped the 2014 World Cup winners make it seven wins in a row under Hansi Flick. The Borussia Dortmund playmaker delivered an encouraging performance and helped set up Germany’s fourth goal with some good pressing.

Croatia also qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup with a 1-0 win over Russia, thanks to an own-goal from Fedor Kudryashov. Marin Pongracic did not feature for the 2018 World Cup runners-up.