World Cup qualification: the Danes advance, Spain and Italy are in trouble

On Tuesday, the last matches of the European part of the World Cup qualification were played. In the vast majority of cases, the favourites took the points, the exception being Northern Ireland, who fell short against Bulgaria.

Group A

In Group A, the favourites won. Serbia beat Azerbaijan 3-1, while Portugal did not give Luxembourg a chance at home. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to win 5:0, his tenth hat-trick for the national team.

Serbia remain at the top of the table, but have played one more game than second-placed Portugal. Ronaldo and co. are one point behind the Serbs, the others are already without a chance of qualification and barrage.

Group B

Things were happening in Group B. Sweden managed to beat Greece at home, with the in-form Aleksandr Isak scoring again. In the clash of the outsiders, Georgia beat Kosovo 2-1 and leapfrogged them in the table.

Sweden also moved up to first place with the win. The Spaniards are two points behind the Swedes, so they must beat them in the last round if they want to avoid the barrier.

Group C

The European champions, Italy, are also under pressure. The rival Swiss blasted Lithuania 4:0, while the Bulgarians surprisingly won against Northern Ireland and knocked the islanders out of the barrier.

Switzerland is now one point behind Italy and second only because of a worse score. Who will go from first place? The November match will tell a lot. Bulgaria still has a theoretical chance to qualify for the barrage, but they would have to score a bunch of goals.

Group D

The already exciting “déèko” got even more confusing on Tuesday. Ukraine only drew with Bosnia at home and refused to rebound against their opponents. Finland, on the other hand, stayed in contention for qualification with a 2-0 win in Kazakhstan.

France leads the table with 12 points. Ukraine is three points behind, but has one more game to play. Finland (8 points) and Bosnia (7) are still in contention for the barrage. They will play each other in a month.

Group F

Denmark secured qualification to the championship with a win over Austria, the Scots won in the Faroe Islands and Israel beat Moldova.

Before the final rounds of qualifying, Scotland only need one win to secure a barrier, and Israel could theoretically also be in the play-offs, but would need to win twice.

Group I

England faltered at home and only drew 1-1 with Hungary. Poland, on the other hand, gained an important three points with a 1-0 win over Albania. As expected, San Marino fell at home to Andorra (0: 3).

England remain first, three points behind Poland, who only on Tuesday leapfrogged Albania. They can still play the barrage, but they still have to play England.

Source: UEFA