Croatia Coach Zlatko Lakic, who took over the team on Oct. 7, played down his own role in qualification. This is the third time, after 1998 and 2014, Croatia has qualified for the World Cup finals through playoffs. SWITZERLAND ADVANCES Switzerland will go to the World Cup with a 1-0 aggregate victory after left-back Ricardo Rodríguez sank Northern Ireland’s hopes in each game of their playoff, at each end of the field. Still, Switzerland dominated much of the first half and should have sealed its place at a fourth straight World Cup much earlier. The Swiss will enter the pot of second-seeded teams for the World Cup draw on Dec. 1 in Moscow.

Source: New York Times November 13, 2017 03:45 UTC