England celebrate Jill Scott’s goal
Photo: UEFA.com via Getty
After 11 hours Wales Women finally concede; England qualify for World Cup
by Steve Clare
Wales’ flawless defensive record extended to 687 minutes before finally cracking in Newport on Friday night. England ran out 3-0 winners and secured top place in Group 1 and their place in France.
Goals from Toni Duggan (57′), Jill Scott (60′) and Nikita Parris (69′) secured England’s place after Wales had held them to a goalless first half. The Lionesses now join Spain, Italy and hosts France in next year’s finals.
Elsewhere there were heroic goal exploits from Lisa-Marie Utlannd who scored a hat trick for Norway in their impressive 4-0 win in Slovakia and VfL Wolfsburg’a Ewa Pajor who scored twice for Poland in nearby Belarus.
Lisa Marie Utland scored twice for Norway
Photo wikipedia
Last night’s results clarified the qualification picture just a little.
Belgium kept themselves in the hunt for a playoff with a necessary win in Romania but will still need to beat Group 6 leaders Italy in their final game to threaten the top four. Norway, Germany and Denmark have a similar problem.
Norway’s last game is with Group 3 leaders Netherlands. A loss for them could allow Belgium to sneak in. Germany who currently occupy second place in Group 5 face group leaders Iceland too and Denmark play Sweden who have a lot to lose. Sweden lost to Ukraine and another loss would potentially leave the out the playoffs entirely.
Of the sides sitting in second place, only Scotland play a team below them. They could still qualify directly with a better result in Albania than Switzerland achieve in Poland. If not, a win would definitely secure a playoff, and a draw might even be enough
RESULTS
Fri 31/08/18
Belarus 1 : 4 Poland
Czech Republic 2 : 0 Slovenia
Republic of Ireland 4 : 0 Northern Ireland
Romania 0 : 1 Belgium
Spain 5 : 1 Finland
Slovakia 0 : 4 Norway
Wales 0 : 3 England
Thu 30/08/18
Russia 3 : 0 Kazakhstan
Moldova 0 : 7 Portugal
Sweden 3 : 0 Ukraine
Denmark 1 : 1 Croatia
Scotland 2 : 1 Switzerland
FIXTURES
Sep 1/09/18
Iceland v Germany
