Croatia qualified for the World Cup after a 3-1 comeback win at home against the Faroe Islands. The Group L match started hesitantly for the 2018 World Cup runners-up and the visitors took a surprising lead after Geza Turi's goal after just over a quarter of an hour of play, BTA reported.
Yoshko Guardiola equalized in the 23rd minute of the match in Rijeka, and Petar Musa gave the "fire" an advantage 12 minutes after the break. The final 3:1 was scored by Nikola Vlasic in the 70th minute.
The Croats are unattainable at the top of the standings with 19 points, while the Czech Republic is in second place with 13 points and will play in the playoffs for the 2026 World Cup finals. The Faroe Islands have no chance of participating in the play-offs with their asset of 12 points, because they played all their matches.
In the other match in this group, Montenegro won 2:1 as a guest against Gibraltar after goals by Vasilije Adzic in the 33rd minute and Nikola Krstovic from a penalty just before the break. Before that, the hosts had taken the lead through Liam Jessop in the 20th minute, and both teams had no chance of participating in the 2026 World Cup.
In group "G", the Netherlands drew 1:1 as a guest against Poland. This result brought the "orange" as close as possible to qualifying for next year's World Cup. The team led by coach Ronald Koeman is the leader, has 17 points and with its very good goal difference will participate in the championship in North America. "Druzhina Polska" remains in second position with 3 points less and a significantly weaker goal difference than its opponent today, one round before the end of the qualifiers in the European zone.
The Poles, who will have to go through the play-offs, took the lead in the score in the 43rd minute through Jakub Kaminski after an assist from Robert Lewandowski, but the guests' record scorer Memphis Depay equalized two minutes after the start of the second half. The match went at an extremely high pace, but both teams had no clear chances in the last 20 minutes of the match in Warsaw.
In Group "A" Germany beat Luxembourg 2-0 away to move top with 12 points. Goals from Nick Voltemade in the 47th and 69th minutes secured a routine victory for the four-time world champions.
In the same group, a goal from Tomas Bobček in the first minute of extra time gave Slovakia a 1-0 win over visiting Northern Ireland. Earlier, two goals for the hosts were disallowed for offside and handball, respectively. The Slovaks, who have 12 points and are in second place, visit Germany in Leipzig on November 17. Northern Ireland are in third place on 6 points and have lost their chance of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.