KRAKOW Poland: Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal teammates have been handed a testing draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 2012 European Championship playoffs.
Thursday’s UEFA draw pitted the Euro 2004 finalist against a team that pushed France all in the way for Group D’s automatic qualification spot in a rematch of the countries’ 2010 World Cup playoff, which Portugal edged 2-0 on aggregate.
In the other matchups, Ireland was drawn to play away first against Estonia, which has never reached the finals of a major tournament. Euros debutant Montenegro will host the second leg against the Czech Republic, while Turkey, a Euro 2008 semifinalist, faces Croatia first in Istanbul.
First-leg matches will be played Nov. 11 or 12. Return games are scheduled Nov. 15.
Winners will complete the 16-nation lineup at the June 8-July 1 tournament co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine in eight cities.
Portugal’s technical director Carlos Godinho said Bosnia was difficult to beat last time, when both matches resulted in tight 1-0 wins.
Bosnia advanced to the Euro 2012 playoffs despite almost being kicked out of the tournament while suspended by FIFA and UEFA for two months last season over political issues.
Ireland returns to a major playoff two years after a controversial World Cup defeat by France, and drew the lowest-ranked unseeded opponent.
The finals tournament draw is made Dec. 2 in Kiev.
Poland and Ukraine are given automatic top-seeding in their four-team groups, and defending champion Spain and the Netherlands have No. 1 status. Germany, Italy, England and Russia will be the No. 2 seeds. (Agencies)
