France, Portugal, Russia eye World Cup spots

Nov 14th, 2009 - Washington Post

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LONDON (Reuters) - France, Portugal and Russia all moved closer to next year's World Cup finals with first leg playoff wins on Saturday, although none of them did enough to take victory for granted in the second legs next week.

France, runners-up in Germany in 2006, beat Ireland 1-0 in Dublin with a late deflected goal from Nicolas Anelka, and start as favorites to finish the job in Paris on Wednesday.

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