And with that I’m going to check out. I leave you with this qualifying roundup. Bye!
Final score! Albania have beaten Poland 1-0 in their disturbed and delayed qualifier in Tirana. That result takes the Poles to second in England’s Group I, three points behind the English with two to play.
William Jansen emails from Denmark! “Quite correct that Denmark won’t be unique in going through World Cup-qualifying without conceding,” he says, “but we stand a shot at being the first to win European team to win all our qualifying matches without conceding a goal. Both coach and team are very aware of the possibility of pulling off that unique feat and are talking openly about chasing it in Danish media.”
Ewan Murray has filed a report on Scotland’s heroic victory over mighty Faroe Islands:
One down, one to go. That bare statistic, meaning that a Scotland win in Moldova next month will take them to the World Cup play-offs, belies the epic struggles Steve Clarke’s team encountered against the Faroe Islands.
Scotland toiled to such an extent that the euphoric celebration that greeted the crucial weekend win over Israel felt like it belonged in another age. With 86 painful minutes played, a cross from the substitute Nathan Patterson was shanked against Lyndon Dykes by the Faroese defender Hordur Askham. Dykes knew little about it – and had to survive a never-ending VAR check – but the goal stood. It was Dykes’s fourth in the same number of consecutive international games, a feat not achieved in Scottish colours since 1969. Scotland have won four in a row for the first time since 2007. A fifth would elevate Clarke’s status even further.
Much more here:
John Stones says today was “one of those days when it just doesn’t click, but coming away with a point is something we can be positive about”. Declan Rice meanwhile said this:
You can say it’s poor because we drew the game but we dominated. Silly penalty to give away, good to get back into the game but just couldn’t find that killer touch to get the win. Sometimes you have to give credit to how the opposition are: Hungary were much better than when we played them away. They were really compact and when you play against low blocks it is hard to create stuff. I still think we did enough to win the game.
Jacob Steinberg has filed a report on crowd disturbances at Wembley:
Apparently Albania v Poland has now restarted.
Ten-man Moldova sneak in a late consolation, Ion Nicolaescu making it Israel 2-1 Moldova. With one game ongoing (in fact not ongoing last I heard, but not yet abandoned) final scores are just thus:
Uefa Group A
Portugal 5-0 Luxembourg
Serbia 3-1 Azerbaijan
Uefa Group B
Kosovo 1-2 Georgia
Sweden 2-0 Greece
Uefa Group C
Bulgaria 2-1 Northern Ireland
Lithuania 0-4 Switzerland
Uefa Group D
Kazakhstan 0-2 Finland
Ukraine 1-1 Bosnia & Herzegovina
Uefa Group F
Denmark 1-0 Austria (Denmark qualify for the World Cup)
Faroe Islands 0-1 Scotland
Israel 2-1 Moldova
Uefa Group I
Albania 0-1 Poland (match halted because of plastic bottle abuse)
England 1-1 Hungary
San Marino 0-3 Andorra
And also a friendly
Republic of Ireland 4-0 Qatar
“Ukraine’s draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina gives oxygen to Finland’s qualification campaign, which seemed to be faltering,” fist-pumps Kári Tulinius. “Now they’re only one point behind Ukraine in second, and have got a game in hand on them. Mind you, Finland face France and Bosnia, so it’s less a game in hand than two in the bush.” All Uefa qualifying tables can be found here.
Final scores: England draw, Northern Ireland lose, Scotland win
That’s a full house of potential outcomes for UK sides tonight.
“I think England qualified for Italia 90 without conceding a goal,” writes Kenneth O’Brien, and he is absolutely right: England came second to Sweden in their qualifying group with three wins, three draws, and nine points (these were still two point for a win days in World Cup qualifying), but made it to the finals as one of Europe’s three best runners-up (as did the eventual champions, West Germany).
Moldova and Greece are both 2-0 down away from home, at Israel and Sweden respectively, and they’ve both had players sent off after receiving a second yellow card: Oleg Reabciuk for Moldova in the 85th minute, and Pantelis Chatzidiakos for Greece in the 86th.
Richard Jolly, as ever, pops up with the killer stat.
Only one Luxembourg player has scored more goals in Luxembourg games in the last 40 years than Cristiano Ronaldo (9). https://t.co/aqIgPF7dKn
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) October 12, 2021
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored his 10th international hat-trick! Portugal lead Luxembourg 5-0, and it’s the main man’s first treble for nearly two years.
Updated
GOAL! Faroe Islands 0-1 Scotland (Dykes, 86 mins)
The Scots have pinched it (potentially)! It’s a cross from the right, and Dykes meets it on the run and pokes it into the corner of the net! There’s a VAR check for potential handball, but the goal is confirmed!
Updated
GOAL and also CHAOS! Albania 0-1 Poland (Swiderski, 77 mins)
Poland go a goal up in Albania and their celebrating players get absolutely pelted with plastic drinks bottles being thrown from the stands, as a result of which the players have left the field!
Updated
“One of the exciting statistical questions of this campaign is: Will Denmark make it through qualification without conceding once? And has that been done before in European qualifying?” writes Ingo Herzke. It’s an excellent question, Ingo. My best guess is that it probably has been done before, but I’ve no idea who by.
Anel Ahmedhodzic, who spent three formative years at Nottingham Forest where he made just one first-team appearance but has since blossomed into a highly-coveted centre-back of European renown, has equalised for Bosnia-Herzegovina in Ukraine, an excellent, crisp low volley after the ball dropped over his shoulder.
Alexander Isak has doubled Sweden’s lead at home to Greece, running onto a massive punt from the goalkeeper, prodding past the Greek keeper and finishing nicely past the defender on the line.
João Palhinha has scored yet another goal for Portugal, who lead Luxembourg 4-0. More interestingly a few moments before that goal, Cristiano Ronaldo nearly scored with a brilliant control-and-overhead-kick combo, only for the keeper to save.
GOAL! Republic of Ireland 4-0 Qatar
Callum Robinson has completed his hat-trick and Shane Duffy has added a fourth for the Republic of Ireland in their friendly against the not-exactly-World-Cup ready Qataris.
Updated
GOAL! Bulgaria 2-1 Northern Ireland (Nedelev, 63mins)
Bulgaria have turned it around in Sofia! It’s a hell of a shot from Todor Nedelev, who finds the top corner from outside the area, and this would pretty much be curtains for Northern Ireland’s World Cup hopes.
Updated
GOAL! Sweden 1-0 Greece (Forsberg pen, 59 mins)
Emil Forsberg has put Sweden ahead against Greece. Again I haven’t been shown the goal, but luckily I’ve found someone on Twitter who ... oh.
Penalty scored was Forsberg. I was at the Toilet I didn’t know we’ve got the penalty!! https://t.co/G6MPLF7x1T
— Nexus🇸🇪💯👹 (@fcb_dbz) October 12, 2021
GOAL! Denmark 1-0 Austria (Maehle, 53 mins)
A big goal for the Danes, who would join Germany and Qatar in the World Cup should they win!
Updated
GOAL! Bulgaria 1-1 Northern Ireland (Nedelev, 53 mins)
A very nice first-time left-foot finish from Todor Nedelev, who equalises for Bulgaria!
Updated
Munas Dabbur has doubled Israel’s advantage in Be’er Sheva, where it’s now Israel 2-0 Moldova. Sky are showing me adverts instead of goals, annoyingly, but some bloke on Twitter says it was a good counter-attack.
There’s a penalty appeal in the Scotland game, but Ryan Christie was offside before he was brought down, and the referee didn’t think it was a foul anyway.
Peeeeeep! Play is back under way!
The Metropolitan Police have released a statement explaining what happened in the stands earlier in the England v Hungary game. “Shortly after the start of tonight’s match at Wembley, officers entered the stand to arrest a spectator for a racially aggravated public order offence following comments made towards a steward,” they said. “As the officers made the arrest, minor disorder broke out involving other spectators. Order was quickly restored and there have been no further incidents at this stage.”
Updated
“You haven’t mentioned Faroe Islands v Scotland yet,” notes Paul Conelly, “so I’m taking this as a good sign.” As you should: it’s very much 0-0 in Torshavn, and though the Faroes lead 7-6 on shots the Scots are shading the possession.
Updated
It’s now mainly half-time in most places. One final first-half goal to tell you about: Vedat Muriqi has converted, yes, a penalty to equalise for Kosovo against Georgia. Your half-timely Uefa qualifying scores are thus:
Uefa Group A
Portugal 3-0 Luxembourg
Serbia 1-1 Azerbaijan
Uefa Group B
Kosovo 1-1 Georgia
Sweden 0-0 Greece
Uefa Group C
Bulgaria 0-1 Northern Ireland
Lithuania 0-3 Switzerland
Uefa Group D
Kazakhstan 0-2 Finland (final score)
Ukraine 1-0 Bosnia & Herzegovina
Uefa Group F
Denmark 0-0 Austria
Faroe Islands 0-0 Scotland
Israel 1-0 Moldova
Uefa Group I
Albania 0-0 Poland
England 1-1 Hungary
San Marino 0-1 Andorra
GOALS! Lithuania 0-3 Switzerland!
Renato Steffen, the diminutive Wolfsburg winger, has scored his first international goal to make it Lithuania 0-2 Switzerland, and three minutes later Breel Embolo has secured his doppelpack to extend the Swiss lead to three!
Updated
GOAL! Bulgaria 0-1 Northern Ireland (Washington, 35 mins)
The keeper saves a header but Conor Washington slams in the loose ball! The linesman has his flag up, either for a foul or an offside, it’s not entirely clear. But VAR has a look and decides it should be a goal.
Updated
GOAL! England 1-1 Hungary (Stones, 37 mins)
England equalise at Wembley! Foden sends in a free-kick from the right and it flicks off a defender at the near post and Stones turns it in at the back stick.
GOAL! Lithuania 0-1 Switzerland (Embolo, 31 mins)
I like Breel Embolo. The 24-year-old is winning his 50th cap for Switzerland tonight, and he has marked the occasion with his seventh international goal, a bullet header into the top corner from a corner.
Updated
Israel are beating Moldova 1-0, Eran Zahavi having given the home side the lead, while yet another penalty has allowed Serbia to go one up against Azerbaijan, Dusan Vlahovic converting.
Portugal lead Luxembourg 3-0, but the statistics suggest it hasn’t been as one-sided as the score might suggest: they have only had four shots, for a start (though that’s not counting one Ronaldo penalty, which went in but had to be retaken because of encroachment). Luxembourg haven’t had a shot of any description yet, though they have had a corner.
GOAL! England 0-1 Hungary (Sallai pen, 24 mins)
Hungary take the lead at Wembley! Luke Shaw is punished for raising his foot (he got the ball, but also a tiny bit of player’s head. Didn’t look a penalty to me) and Sallai does a Robinson, sending Pickford the wrong way and rolling the ball down the left side of goal.
PA Media have filed a report on the crowd disturbances at Wembley:
Hungary fans clashed with police at Wembley at the start of Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier against England. Last month’s meeting between the sides in Budapest was marred by monkey chants aimed at Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham. Fifa ordered Hungary to play two home Fifa competition matches behind closed doors, one suspended for two years, following racist behaviour by supporters. The fanbase was again under scrutiny in London, with the travelling fans booing as England players took the knee before kick-off. Clashes then broke out in the away section, with police seemingly using batons in an attempt to control the crowd before appearing to be forced into the concourse.
GOAL! Republic of Ireland 2-0 Qatar (Robinson pen, 13 mins)
A tidy penalty from Callum Robinson, who sends the keeper the wrong way and rolls the ball low to his left.
Updated
GOAL! Portugal 3-0 Luxemborug (Bruno Fernandes, 17 mins)
I think Portugal might win this. Elsewhere, Andriy Yarmolenko has put Ukraine 1-0 up against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Lviv.
GOAL! Portugal 2-0 Luxembourg (Ronaldo pen, 13 mins)
Another Portugal penalty, another Ronaldo goal. Meanwhile at Wembley, multiple reports of disorder in the section of the ground reserved for Hungary fans.
Updated
A couple of other early goals: 39-year-old Marc Pujol has given Andorra the lead in San Marino, and Tornike Okriashvili has put Georgia ahead in Kosovo.
GOAL! Portugal 1-0 Luxembourg (Ronaldo pen, 8 mins)
International goal No113 for Cristiano Ronaldo has come from the penalty spot. Bernardo Silva was absolutely fouled outside the area there, but the VAR was snoozing and Ronaldo slammed in the penalty!
GOAL! Republic of Ireland 1-0 Qatar (Robinson, 4 mins)
An early goal for the Republic! Callum Robinson has scored with a deflected shot. Stephen Kenny apparently went sprinting down the touchline in perhaps slightly overenthusiastic celebration.
Updated
Peeeeeeep! Football is being played!
Players are out and anthems being played. At Wembley, a minute’s applause is held in memory of two legends, Jimmy Greaves and Roger Hunt.
Steve Clarke has a chat:
We’ve got the utmost respect for Faroes and the way they play. We expect a tough night. It might be a case of being patient, you never know when the goals are going to come. The important thing is for us to react, however the game goes. The players have worked hard to put themselves in this position in the group and they want to maintain that.
This is actually quite impressive.
Caoimhin Kelleher and Chiedozie Ogbene were handed first starts for the Republic of Ireland as manager Stephen Kenny shuffled his pack for Tuesday night’s friendly against Qatar, reports PA Media.
Liverpool keeper Kelleher, who made his debut against Hungary in June, and Rotherham winger Ogbene, who scored his maiden senior international goal in Azerbaijan at the weekend in his second appearance as a substitute, were included in two of five changes. They, Enda Stevens, Conor Hourihane and Jamie McGrath got the nod for Gavin Bazunu, James McClean, Daryl Horgan and Adam Idah, who were named on the bench, while the injured Josh Cullen sat out.
Qatar boss Felix Sanchez made just one change to the side which lost 3-0 in Portugal at the weekend, with keeper Saad Alsheeb making way for Meshaal Barsham.
Republic of Ireland: Kelleher, Doherty, Omobamidele, Duffy, Egan, Stevens, Hendrick, Hourihane, Ogbene, Robinson, McGrath. Subs: Bazunu, Arter, Idah, Parrott, McClean, Nathan Collins, Christie, Horgan, Knight, James Collins, Connolly.
Qatar: Barsham, Al-Rawi, Salman, Abdelkarim Hassan, Deus Correia, Al-Haydos, Boudiaf, Hatem, Abdulaziz Mohammed, Ali, Afif. Subs: Al-Sheeb, Fatehi, Alaaeldin, Assadalla, Yusuf Abdurisag, Kheder, Marafee, Al-Braik, Al-Ahrak, Madibo, Yousuf Hassan.
Referee: Keith Kennedy (Northern Ireland).
In the one early kick-off in Uefa qualifying Finland won 2-0 in Kazakhstan, with Teemu Pukki scoring both goals, which earned him some special treatment post-match.
Conor Bradley made his first Northern Ireland start as Ian Baraclough made four changes for the World Cup qualifier against Bulgaria, PA Media reports.
Shane Ferguson started in place of Jamal Lewis, suspended after his controversial red card in the 2-0 defeat to Switzerland on Saturday which all-but ended hopes of reaching the qualifying play-offs.
The 18-year-old Bradley came into the side along with Tom Flanagan and Josh Magennis, with Stuart Dallas and Ciaron Brown dropping to the bench and George Saville not listed in the matchday squad.
Bulgaria: Karadzhov, Turitsov, Petko Hristov, Radoslav Tsonev, Andrea Hristov, Velkovski, Borislav Tsonev, Chochev, Nedelev, Despodov, Atanas Iliev. Subs: Vitanov, Malinov, Krastev, Ilian Iliev, Vutsov, Lukov, Yankov, Bozhikov, Kirilov, Karagaren, Delev, Dimitar Iliev.
Northern Ireland: Peacock-Farrell, Ballard, Cathcart, Flanagan, Ferguson, McNair, Davis, Bradley, Magennis, Thompson, Washington. Subs: Smyth, Brown, Hughes, McCalmont, Dallas, Jones, Winchester, Hazard, McGinn, Charles.
Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (Belarus).
Here’s the England team, with Gareth Southgate making nine changes including the return of Harry Kane in attack. Phil Foden and John Stones are the only players who started the weekend win over Andorra to keep their places.
England: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Mings, Shaw, Foden, Rice, Mount, Sterling, Kane, Grealish. Subs: Sancho, Tomori, Abraham, Ramsdale, Chilwell, Saka, Johnstone, Henderson, Coady, Watkins, Trippier, Ward-Prowse.
Hungary: Gulacsi, Lang, Kecskes, Szalai, Nego, Adam Nagy, Schafer, Zsolt Nagy, Sallai, Szoboszlai, Schon. Subs: Varga, Szabo, Nikolic, Gazdag, Vecsei, Holender, Bogdan, Bolla, Salloi, Balogh.
Referee: Alejandro Hernandez (Spain).
Some teams!
I’m going to fling a few teams in here. I’m happy to take requests, so let me know if you’d like me to add some line-ups I’ve left out.
Faroe Islands: Gestsson, Faero, Vatnsdal, Nattestad, Sorensen, Gunnar Vatnhamar, Brandur Olsen, Davidsen, Hansson, Edmundsson, Jonsson. Subs: Nielsen, Bjartalid, Askham, Knudsen, Klaemint Olsen, Frederiksen, Agnarsson, Jensen, Lamhauge, Solvi Vatnhamar, Danielsen.
Scotland: Gordon, Hendry, Hanley, Tierney, Fraser, McTominay, Gilmour, Robertson, John McGinn, Christie, Dykes. Subs: McLean, Turnbull, McKenna, Ferguson, Nisbet, McLaughlin, Patterson, Kelly, Armstrong, McGregor, O’Donnell, Cooper.
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia).
Portugal: Rui Patricio, Joao Cancelo, Pepe, Dias, Nuno Mendes, Joao Palhinha, Joao Moutinho, Bruno Fernandes, Ronaldo, Andre Silva, Bernardo Silva. Subs: Joao Mario, Leao, Danilo Pereira, Nelson Semedo, William Carvalho, Dalot, Costa, Fonte, Neves, Matheus Luiz, Goncalo Guedes, Lopes.
Luxembourg: Moris, Jans, Chanot, Carlson, Mica Pinto, Sinani, Martins Pereira, Barreiro, Olivier Thill, Rodrigues,
Sebastien Thill. Subs: Muratovic, Skenderovic, Schon, Borges Sanches, Dzogovic, Omosanya, Pimentel, Kips, Deville, Selimovic, Veiga, Malget.
Referee: Benoit Bastien (France).
Albania: Berisha, Hysaj, Ismajli, Kumbulla, Veseli, Bare, Ramadani, Trashi, Uzuni, Manaj, Roshi. Subs: Strakosha, Broja, Cokaj, Bajrami, Dermaku, Selmani, Mihaj, Lenjani.
Poland: Szczesny, Dawidowicz, Bednarek, Glik, Puchacz, Jozwiak, Krychowiak, Moder, Zielinski, Lewandowski, Buksa. Subs: Placheta, Kozlowski, Swiderski, Frankowski, Gumny, Kedziora, Piatek, Skorupski, Klich, Helik, Bereszynski, Majecki.
Referee: Clement Turpin (France).
Hello world!
This evening’s entertainment features 13 European qualifiers, an African qualifier and a friendly. That’s 15 games, maths fans. If there as many goals scored in the average World Cup qualifier as there are in an average World Cup - at Russia 2018 there were 2.6 - then I would have 39 goals to tell you about this evening, and if spread out evenly across the matches that would be a goal every two minutes and 18 seconds.
Of course at the World Cup several games will go to extra time, which gives teams 30 extra minutes in which to score, but on the other hand at the World Cup all the qualified teams tend to be of pretty high quality, whereas tonight Portugal play Luxembourg, Serbia play Azerbaijan (four previous games, 16 goals), San Marino play Andorra (though their two previous meetings both ended with disappointingly sane scorelines), and pretty much anything can happen when Qatar play. This is approximately almost exactly too many goals for me to have a reasonable chance of accurately reporting. Still, I’ll do my best.
European qualifying tables can be found here. Now, those fixtures in full (all kick-offs 7.45pm BST unless stated):
Uefa Group A
Portugal v Luxembourg
Serbia v Azerbaijan
Uefa Group B
Kosovo v Georgia
Sweden v Greece
Uefa Group C
Bulgaria v Northern Ireland
Lithuania v Switzerland
Uefa Group D
Kazakhstan v Finland (early kick-off)
Ukraine v Bosnia & Herzegovina
Uefa Group F
Denmark v Austria (Denmark would qualify for the World Cup tonight if they win)
Faroe Islands v Scotland
Israel v Moldova
Uefa Group I
Albania v Poland
England v Hungary (Nothing will be official this evening, but an England win coupled with a draw in Albania would effectively qualify the English)
San Marino v Andorra
Plus bonus CAF Group I
Guinea v Morocco (8pm)
And also a friendly
Republic of Ireland v Qatar
Sometimes it’s hard to organise a friendly but, as Radiohead once said, anyone can play Qatar.
So, that’s what we’ve got on our plate this evening. Strap yourselves in, it’s going to be a wild ride.
