Portugal and Poland claimed their spots at the 2022 World Cup finals with 2-0 wins over North Macedonia and Sweden Tuesday.

Portugal's Bruno Fernandes scored twice as they beat stubborn visitors North Macedonia 2-0 to qualify for the World Cup finals in Qatar after a tense European playoff tie on Tuesday.

Roared on by 50,000 fans at a sold-out Dragao Stadium in Porto, Portugal dominated the game from the start but struggled to break down the strong North Macedonian defense, managing only three shots on target despite having almost 70% possession.

Fernandes opened the scoring 30 minutes into the first half after intercepting a pass by his best friend, North Macedonia captain Stefan Ristovski, working a great one-two with Cristiano Ronaldo before whipping his shot past the goalkeeper.

The 27-year-old attacking midfielder sealed Portugal's win in the 65th minute, striking home a close-range volley from a Diogo Jota cross.

Portugal qualified for a sixth straight World Cup finals and has not missed a major international competition in the last 20 years. Portugal have been a World Cup mainstay since 2002. North Macedonia have never been in the World Cup finals.

In the other game, Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zielinski fired second-half goals as Poland booked their place in the World Cup finals in Qatar with a 2-0 win over Sweden in an electrifying playoff match on the same day.

Polish captain Lewandowski scored from the spot five minutes into the second half after Jesper Karlstroem's clumsy challenge on substitute Grzegorz Krychowiak led to the penalty, and he sent Robin Olsen the wrong way while slotting home.

Sweden had a slew of excellent chances saved by Wojciech Szczesny before a mix-up between Kristoffer Olsson and Marcus Danielson allowed Zielinski to score as he curled the ball into the net at the near post in the 73rd minute.

The Swedes brought record goal-scorer, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, off the bench for the final 10 minutes but the Polish defense held firm in front of the capacity crowd to book their spot in the World Cup finals.

Poland qualified for a World Cup tournament for the second time in a row. They previously appeared in Russia in 2018.

African play-offs

In the African play-off games, Liverpool star Sadio Mane converted a shoot-out penalty on Tuesday to take African champions Senegal to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at the expense of Egypt.

Senegal won the second leg of the African play-off 1-0 in Diamniadio thanks to a fourth-minute goal from Boulaye Dia and the teams finished level at 1-1 on aggregate after extra time.

As was the case in the Africa Cup of Nations final last month, Mane was entrusted with taking the crucial fifth Senegal kick and once again he made no mistake to give his side a 3-1 shoot-out victory.

Among the three Egyptians who failed to score in the shoot-out was Sane's Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah, who uncharacteristically blazed his kick over the crossbar.

As Senegal celebrated a second straight qualification for the World Cup, Egypt was left to lament another dramatic loss to Senegal this year.

There were no goals in the Cup of Nations final that went to extra time in Yaounde last month, leading to a shoot-out which Senegal won 4-2 with Mane converting the fifth penalty for his side.

The Lions of Teranga previously played in the 2002 and 2018 World Cup tournaments.

Meanwhile, during the shootout, several Senegalese fans aimed laser pointers into the eyes of Egypt players to distract them.

The drama in Diamniadio came soon after Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey scored the goal that took Ghana to the World Cup as they forced a 1-1 draw in Nigeria to win the play-off on away goals.

Partey struck after 10 minutes in Abuja and although another Premier League star, William Troost-Ekong, leveled from a 22nd-minute penalty, Nigeria failed to score again. The first leg ended goalless.

The Black Stars of Ghana are back in the World Cup finals after qualifying in 2006, 2010 and 2014, but missing out four years ago.

The defeat was a massive blow for favorites Nigeria, who were chasing a seventh appearance in eight attempts since debuting at the 1994 World Cup.

Public servants in the Nigerian capital were given a half-day and free transport was arranged from the suburbs to ensure a capacity 60,000 crowd cheered on the Super Eagles.

But the home team fell behind early on when Partey's shot from outside the box slipped between the hands of goalkeeper Francis Uzoho and into the net.

It was the latest in a series of blunders by Nigerian goalkeepers with Maduka Okoyo blamed for the Tunisian goal that knocked his team out of the recent Africa Cup of Nations at the last-16 stage.

Troost-Ekong was the calmest person in the cauldron of noise midway through the opening half as he sent Ghana goalkeeper Jojo Wollacott the wrong way from the penalty spot to equalize.

Napoli forward Victor Osimhen had the ball in the net for Nigeria soon after, but it was ruled offside after a VAR check.

Nigeria applied constant second-half pressure, but could not break down a Ghana defense marshaled by Leicester City center-back Daniel Amartey.

Ghana started the two-leg tie as underdogs after a dismal showing at the Cup of Nations in January, with a loss to minnows Comoros condemning them to a humiliating first-round exit.

The 2022 World Cup will be held from Nov. 21 to Dec. 18 with 32 teams in eight groups.