France, Portugal gain crucial edges

Nicolas Anelka gave France a crucial 1-0 win over Ireland in Dublin just like Bruno Alves did for Portugal.

France closed in on the World Cup finals on Saturday as fellow star-studded giants Portugal struggled for a 1-0 home victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina on a night of tense, first-leg play-off ties.

Nicolas Anelka gave France a crucial 1-0 win over Ireland in Dublin as the 1998 world champions and 2006 runners-up gained the upper-hand ahead of the return in Paris on Wednesday.

Chelsea striker Anelka struck the vital away goal with 18 minutes left at Croke Park with his shot taking a wicked deflection off Sean St Ledger and past Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given.

Ireland had wasted a golden opportunity in the first half when Liam Lawrence missed the target from just eight yards.

"It is an advantage for the second leg in Paris but we have seen that the Irish team is very difficult to beat," said France skipper Thierry Henry.

"There is one more game before we open the door for qualification. What we did here was nice but there is still 90 minutes to go."

Ireland captain Robbie Keane refused to believe it was the end of the road.

"The manager said we have to believe we can go there and win. There is no question we can do that. We have been to big teams like Italy before and got results," he said.

In Lisbon, Portugal, the 2006 semi-finalists but playing without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, struggled. It could have been a black night for the Portuguese who were saved by the woodwork on three occasions, including twice in the last minute.

Porto defender Bruno Alves was on target with a powerful backpost header after 31 minutes for the game's only goal.

But Senijad Ibricic crashed a header against the crossbar before a dramatic final minute which saw Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko's far-post header come off the crossbar while Zlatan Muslimovic's follow-up volley came off the post.

"We had to do a lot of work," said Alves. "Bosnia are not an easy team, they are well-organised. We won and that's the most important thing.

"In the second leg, we expect an even tougher match. But we have the advantage and we will attack."

Meanwhile, unheralded Slovenia and Ukraine took tentative steps closer to finals.

Despite losing 2-1 to Russia in Moscow, Nejc Pecnik's goal two minutes from time gave Slovenia hope that they can make sure of a second World Cup appearance in Wednesday's return leg.

Ukraine, who were quarter-finalists in 2006, will also be confident of achieving back-to-back World Cup spots, after holding 2004 European champions Greece to a 0-0 draw in Athens.

In Moscow, Everton midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored twice for Guus Hiddink's Russian side before Pecnik's late lifeline.

"It's always disappointing when you allow your rivals to score a goal at the very end but we can only blame only ourselves for it," said Hiddink.

Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek said he was disappointed with the result but added his team still had a great chance to qualify for the finals.

"I'm unhappy with the result but it's better to be wounded than dead," Kek said.

Greece and Ukraine played out a 0-0 stalemate at Athens Olympic Stadium watched by 50,000 spectators with Greek striker Giorgos Samaras and Ukraine's Taras Mikhalik wasting second-half chances.