second-round winners at the final grass-court Wimbledon tu

ZURICH, Switzerland -- Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal will find out Monday who they must beat in a playoff to reach the World Cup in Brazil. France and Franck Ribery would be the toughest possible test for the Portuguese as the in-form and highest-ranked of four unseeded nations in the draw at FIFA. Portugal, No. 14 in FIFAs monthly world standings, is seeded with Greece (No. 15), Croatia (No. 18) and Ukraine (No. 20), which barely edged ahead of the French after the qualifying groups finished last week. France (No. 21) is unseeded with Sweden (No. 25), Romania (No. 29) and Iceland (No. 46). Iceland, which has a population of around 315,000, aims to become the smallest country ever to play at the World Cup. That record is held by 2006 qualifier Trinidad and Tobago. Two-legged playoffs are scheduled for Nov. 15 and 19. The four winners will complete Europes 13-strong entry in the 32-team World Cup draw on Dec. 6 in Salvador, Brazil. Portugal is in the playoffs for the second straight time after Russia won its qualifying group. France, which was runner-up at the 2006 World Cup after beating Portugal in the semifinals, also has a repeat playoffs date after being drawn in a qualifying group with Spain. Four years ago, France profited from a notorious handled assist by Thierry Henry to beat Ireland in extra time, and Portugal beat Bosnia-Herzegovina home and away. Greece also won its playoff to advance to the 2010 tournament in South Africa, beating Ukraine. FIFA said it has reprieved Ukraine to play its home leg with fans in the stadium, likely in Kyiv, while its appeal committee considers a racist abuse case. Ukraine has challenged a one-match stadium closure order imposed by FIFA over fans "displaying neo-Nazi banners and by making monkey noises and gestures as well as Nazi salutes" during a victory against San Marino in Lviv last month. Croatias playoff matches will mark the coaching debut of Niko Kovac. He replaced Igor Stimac who was fired last week after a series of poor results this season. Nike Zoom Outlet . Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. Lakers, spoke as a representative of current NBA players at a press conference assembled by Sacramento mayor and National Basketball Players Association adviser Kevin Johnson. Nike Zoom Cheap China . Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone dismissed Tuesdays massive anti-government protest in Manama as "a lot of kids having a go at the police." "I dont think its anything serious at all," Ecclestone was quoted as saying in The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday. http://www.nikezoomoutlet.com/ . Cleveland has won the first two of this set and has won six straight games since losing back-to-back tilts to open the year. Seattle, on the other hand, has now lost six in a row following consecutive wins to kick off its campaign. Nike Zoom Clearance . Interestingly, the culprits were not rookies, but well paid, experienced pros. The first gaffe came in the 24th minute of arguably the biggest early season MLS game in history between Seattle and Toronto. Sounder newcomer Marco Pappa, (with over 100 MLS games, and 39 Guatemalan Caps to his name) attempted a back pass to one of his central defenders. Nike Zoom Wholesale . In question is whether 26-year-old Matt Frattin will be on it. A a€?mediocrea€? training camp, as Carlyle put it earlier this week, has Frattin lingering nervously on the bubble at the end of the exhibition season, pushed out of a likely job by Brandon Kozun, the small, but feisty winger determined to make the NHL for the first time.Eastbourne, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and former world No. 1 star Caroline Wozniacki were among Wednesdays second-round winners at the final grass-court Wimbledon tune-up in Eastbourne. The second-seeded 2011 Eastbourne runner-up Kvitova handled American Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-4, while the eighth-seeded Dane Wozniacki waltzed past American Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-3 at the Aegon International. Kvitovas quarterfinal opponent on Thursday will be Britains own Heather Watson, while Wozniacki will take on rising Italian Camila Giorgi at Devonshire Park. In other action involving seeds, No. 5 German Angelique Kerber outlasted Frances Alize Cornet 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7-3) and the wild card Watson ousted No.dddddddddddd 6 Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-2. Meanwhile, American Lauren Davis leveled Slovak and 2004 Eastbourne runner-up Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-3; American Madison Keys topped Russian Elena Vesnina 7-5, 7-6 (11-9); Giorgi overcame British wild card Johanna Konta 1-6, 7-5, 7-5; and Ekaterina Makarova erased fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-3 on Day 3. The other quarterfinals will pit Kerber against the 2010 Eastbourne runner-up Makarova and Davis versus her compatriot Keys. ' ' '