World Cup qualification: the Slovaks with an important win, the Scots also improved

The five groups of the European part of the World Cup qualification were played on Tuesday. Important points were gained by the Slovaks or the Scots, while the Serbs lost and lost the first place. How did the others fare?

Group A

Two matches were played in Group A. Portugal played in Azerbaijan without Cristiano Ronaldo, but won 3-0. Serbia also came close to a fourth win, but lost the extra two points in the 86th minute after an own goal by Nikola Milenkovic, making it 1: 1 in Ireland.

The Portuguese finally topped the group with a two-point lead over the second-placed Serbians. Luxembourg can still theoretically hope to qualify for the barrage, but they have six points with one game to play.

Group D

In Group D, France took a big step towards qualification by beating Finland 2-0 thanks to two goals from Antoine Griezmann. Bosnia and Herzegovina had a chance to jump up the table, but only drew 2-2 with Kazakhstan.

A goal in the ninety-fifth minute prevented Bosnia from catching up with Ukraine and Finland, both teams have five points while Bosnia have only three. France are virtually assured of qualification with twelve points.

Group F

Denmark continues to ride a wave of success, taunting Israel with a high-scoring 5-0 win on Tuesday. In the “six-point match” between Austria and Scotland, the visitors took three points (0::1), while the Faroe Islands beat Moldova at home (2::1).

Denmark remains in first place, with two wins, while Scotland moved into second place, but Israel is only one point ahead of third place. Austria should take the win, they are four points behind the barrier.

Group G

The Netherlands downed Turkey at home thanks to Memphis Depay’s hat-trick (6:1), Norway also had a good time, giving Gibraltar a five (5:1). Erling Haaland scored three times, as did Depay. No goals were scored in the clash between the group outsiders Montenegro and Latvia.

The Netherlands topped the table with a big win, while Norway has thirteen points. The third-placed Turks are two points behind and are clearly running out of breath, while Montenegro are five points adrift of the promotion places.

Group H

In Group H, all the favourites won. Russia beat Malta 2-0, Slovakia came out of the blocks in the second half to win 2-0 against Cyprus with two goals and the Croatians gave the Slovenians no chance 3-0.

The results did not play into the hands of Slovakia, which is still four points behind the Russians and Croats. Slovenia still has a theoretical chance to qualify for the barrage, but they are still two points behind Stefan Tarkovic’s charges.

Source: Livesport