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Scotland v Denmark (Tuesday 7.45pm)
Steve Clarke has already given his pre-match teamtalk – not to his players but to the Tartan Army.
We need positive backing. One of my favourite sayings for the players is ‘play with the anticipation of success and not the fear of failure’. I’m going to ask the Hampden crowd to do that on Tuesday night.
We need them for the first minute to be with us and in the difficult moments in the game to be especially with us. That’s what this group of players deserve and, if they get that, I’m pretty sure we can do something special.
I think we can inspire each other. The team can inspire the fans and the fans can inspire the team.
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Ethan Ampadu and Jordan James, who scored the only goal in Liechtenstein, were booked and will miss Wales’ match against North Macedonia on Tuesday.
“I am gutted,” said Ampadu. “If it was a challenge that was a bit reckless or silly I would be frustrated with myself. It’s annoying because I don’t think it was a yellow. I don’t think I touched the guy and I won the ball.
“To miss the opportunity to represent your country is always hard and I’m really disappointed with that.”
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Group J: Liechtenstein 0-1 Wales
Wales continued their excellent record under Craig Bellamy with an admittedly nervy 1-0 win over Liechtenstein. While they can still mathematically secure automatic qualification, the reality is that Wales – who have already qualified for the playoffs via the Nations League – need to beat North Macedonia at home on Tuesday to secure second place and a (theoretically) more favourable playoff draw. Confused? That’s okay: all I need are the three digits on the back card.
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Group B: Switzerland 4-1 Sweden
Sweden were plugged 4-1 by Switzerland in Graham Potter’s first game, leaving them bottom of Group B with one point from five games. But they are guaranteed a playoff place by virtue of the Nations League, so onwards.
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In my endearingly humble opinion, Sid Lowe’s interviews are consistently among the best things on this site. His latest, with Cristhian Mosquera, is no exception.
ShareJonathan Wilson
Watching Micky van de Ven surge through pretty much the entire FC Copenhagen team in the Champions League last week, two sensations occurred. The first was awe, that somebody so powerful and so quick would still have the composure to finish as he did. And the second was that this didn’t feel entirely fair. It was as though Gulliver had landed himself a deal in the Lilliput Premier League.
The same evening, Liverpool, who have at times struggled physically in the Premier League this season, bullied Real Madrid, their threat at set plays so marked that eventually it was the 5ft 7in Alexis Mac Allister who headed the vital goal. The following day, Newcastle swatted Athletic Bilbao aside, largely by being bigger than them: for the opening goal, the Spanish side’s defence appears to have looked at Dan Burn and decided there was no point even trying to mark him.
ShareJacob Steinberg
Thomas Tuchel has said he would rather England lose their final World Cup qualifier to Albania than any of his players risk picking up a red card that would rule them out of the start of next summer’s tournament.
The head coach has taken note of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo possibly facing a two-game ban at the World Cup after his dismissal against the Republic of Ireland on Thursday and will remind his side about the importance of discipline at the Air Albania Arena on Sunday night. Tuchel does not want any needless slips from England, who have already won their qualifying group, and will even tell his players to think twice before fouling an opponent who is through on goal.
“It is important,” the German said. “I’m aware of it and we will talk about it. No red cards please. We are through and we are in a position with last man then the player holds the shirt he gets the red card. If there’s a doubt then it would be smarter not to do it.”
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Updated at 03.56 EST
WSL: Man City 3-0 Man Utd
Manchester City are four points clear at the top of the WSL after a blistering first-half performance in the derby. Sophie Downey reports.
ShareDavid Hytner
For Harry Kane, it is a numbers game and they keep on coming. The England captain has 23 goals in 17 appearances for Bayern Munich this season, while for his country it is three in four. If he scores against Albania here on Sunday, he would equal Pelé’s record in international football. Kane has 76 goals from 111 caps. The Brazil legend finished with 77 from 92. One more detail: Kane has failed to score in only six matches for club and country this season.
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The state of play in Group K
England have qualified, Albania have clinched a playoff place. Next!
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The state of play in Group I
Norway will qualify for their fourth World Cup, and their first since Before Haaland (aka 1998), unless they lose by nine goals in Italy. No, exactly. Italy have also secured a playoff place.
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The state of play in Group F
Portugal need to win at home to Armenia to be certain of automatic qualification. A draw will be sufficient unless Hungary beat the Republic of Ireland by four goals.
Hungary v Ireland is almost certainly a shootout for a playoff place; Hungary have the draw and home advantage.
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The state of play in Group D
France have already qualified, as expected, with Ukraine and Iceland – who meet in Warsaw this afternoon – chasing a playoff place. They’re level of points but Iceland effectively have the draw due to their superior goal difference.
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The runners and riders for the 2026 World Cup
Thirty places have been filled, 18 remain.
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Scotland, then. They went into last night’s game in Greece knowing* they needed at least a draw to stay in contention for automatic qualification. They lose a thrilling gmae 3-2 – but somehow Belarus held Denmark to a 2-2 draw in Copenhagen.
The upshot is that – gulp – if Scotland beat Denmark at Hampden on Tuesday night, they will – GULP! – qualify for their first World Cup finals since 1998.
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Preamble
Oh, hi! You’re up early. And why wouldn’t you be on a big day for, among others, the Republic of Ireland and lovers of perfection. Ireland will secure a World Cup qualification playoff place if they beat Hungary in Budapest. And England, who play in Albania, are aiming to complete a perfect qualification campaign: eight games, eight wins, no goals conceded.
Norway and Portugal should also clinch a place in next summer’s finals, while Ukraine face Iceland in what is effectively a playoff to reach the playoffs.
We’ll have build-up to those matches, plus reaction to last night’s action in Group C. Scotland took a break from doing things the hard way and instead did it the weird way: despite a madcap 3-2 defeat in Greece, their hopes of automatic qualifiction remain alive after Belarus drew 2-2 against Denmark in Copenhagen.
Last and emphatically not least, there are five games in the Women’s Super League, including the small matter of Tottenham v Arsenal.
Here’s a full list of today’s games in Uefa World Cup qualification and the WSL.
Group F (2pm)
Group K (5pm)
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Albania v England
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Serbia v Latvia
Group D (5pm)
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Azerbaijan v France
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Ukraine v Iceland
Group I (7.45pm)
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Israel v Moldova
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Italy v Norway
WSL (all midday unless stated)
Post your thoughts BTL or get in touch at matchday.live@theguardian.com
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Updated at 03.10 EST
