Skip to main content

Monday's World Cup Qualifying Round-Up: Home Nations' Delight as England, Scotland and N.Ireland Win

  • Author:
  • Publish date:

England, Scotland and Northern Ireland all won on a great night for the home nations, with Michael O'Neill's men all but sealing a playoff place in Group C and Gareth Southgate's side needing only two points to win Group F.

England fell behind at Wembley just three minutes in after Stanislav Lobotka netted from a neat through ball from striker Adam Nemec to putSlovakia ahead. However, the Three Lions soon went on to dominate with 23 shots and Eric Dier finished from a Marcus Rashford corner before the Manchester United man went on to score himself and seal three points and a five point gap at the top of the group.

Elsewhere in Group F, Scotland defeated Malta 2-0 to keep their slim hopes of a playoff place alive. Goals from SPFL-based Christophe Berra and Leigh Griffiths cut the gap between them and Slovakia to just two points.

Group rivals Slovenia also beat Lithuania 4-0 to stay level on points with Gordon Strachan's Scotland side.

Northern Ireland capped a phenomenal week with a hard-fought win at Windsor Park against Czech Republic. Despite the visitors enjoying 77% possession and 11 shots on goal, a Jonny Evans header and a brilliant free-kick from West Brom teammate Chris Brunt ensured that they cannot finish below second place in Group C.

In the same group, Germany completed a thumping 6-0 win over Norway, while San Marino were beaten 5-1 by Azerbaijan.

In Group E Denmark continued their fine run of form by beating Armenia 4-1, just three days after thrashing Poland. Robert Lewandowski's side did bounce back, however, with a 3-0 win over Kazakhstan.

Montenegro also sealed a credible victory over Romania to put themselves second in Group E.