Israel now sit four points behind Scotland in third place with two games to play, while Austria are now out of qualification contention, along with Faroe Islands and Moldova.
The Netherlands are closing in on automatic qualification after beating Gibraltar last time out, but they are still only two points ahead of Norway with two games to play. Louis van Gaal's side complete their qualifiers away against Montenegro and home to Norway.
Turkey snatched a win against Latvia last time out as Burak Yilmaz scored from the penalty spot deep into injury time to revive their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup. The victory left them four points behind Group G leaders the Netherlands and two points behind Norway with two matches left to play.
Croatia dented their hopes of qualifying automatically for the World Cup after a home draw with Slovakia that left them trailing Russia by two points in a two-team race for the top spot. The Russians, who have 19 points from eight games, beat Slovenia away to leapfrog Croatia, who came from behind twice against the Slovakians and had a late goal scrapped after a VAR check. Russia host Cyprus and Croatia visit Malta in the penultimate round of games before the top two clash three days later in what is likely to be a decisive battle for an automatic berth.
England need four points from their remaining two games, at home to Albania and away to San Marino, to be certain of top spot following their draw with Hungary last time out. Poland are in a strong position for a play-off spot after they beat Albania to move into second place. Hungary impressed in their draw with England at Wembley but their hopes of reaching a second successive major tournament are over.
November Andorra vs Poland - kick-off 7. Germany became the first European team to qualify for the World Cup by crushing North Macedonia away to secure top spot in Group J with two games to spare. North Macedonia and Armenia are locked in a battle for second place, with Romania not out of the equation yet. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. The competition, which will be held in Qatar, will begin on November 21, and conclude by December 18, making it the shortest World Cup since , when the competition had only 16 teams, half of what it has now.
The dates, specifically the extremely controversial decision to move the competition from the summer to the winter months, were finalized despite strenuous objection by the major European football leagues, including the Premier League, who argued that it would disrupt what is already a frightfully busy club season. Matches will only be assigned to particular venues after the finals draw, so organisers can choose optimal kick-off times to suit television audiences in different countries, as well as supporters out in Qatar.
The finals draw is scheduled to take place in April , after the March window for international fixtures. FIFA has confirmed the first two rounds of matches will kick off at 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10pm local time 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm in the United Kingdom. Kick-off times in the final round of group games and knock-out round matches will be at 6pm and 10pm local time 3pm and 7pm UK time. England are in a qualifying group with Hungary, Poland, Albania, Andorra and San Marino and are in pole position to top their group, having won all three of their matches so far.
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