World Cup Qualifying Round-Up

Editorial | Article posted on March 27th, 2025

England’s qualification for the World Cup remains in the balance, after a 1-1 draw in Montenegro. England began the game superbly, with Wayne Rooney’s delicate chip hitting the post before he rammed home a header to put England ahead. However, the home side dominated the second-half, and scored a deserved equaliser with fifteen minutes to go. The result left England still in second place in the group, two points behind Montenegro, with Poland and the Ukraine also closing on them. England’s last three fixtures in the group are against these three nations, and will ultimately decide whether or not they appear in the final stages of the tournament in Brazil.

In Group A, having beaten Scotland last week, Wales gave a good account of themselves against a strong Croatian side, taking the lead through a Gareth Bale penalty. Croatia responded strongly, though, and came back to win by two goals to one. Scotland lost their second game in a week, by two goals to nil about Croatia’s neighbours Serbia, and both the British nations can forget about participating in Brazil.

Like Scotland, Northern Ireland are also searching for their first win of the qualifying campaign, after losing at home to Israel. The Northern Irish look a very long way from a team that can hope to qualify for a major tournament in the foreseeable future. Their neighbours the Republic of Ireland, though, retain a decent chance of progressing from Group C, despite being pegged back by a last minute equaliser at home to Austria. The Irish will battle for a play-off place with the Austrians and Sweden, all of whom currently have eight points

Elsewhere, a solitary goal from Pedro was enough for Spain to see off France and return to the top of Group I, having suffered a disappointing draw at home to Finland in their previous fixture. With 23 wins and 2 draws from their last 25 competitive fixtures, the Spanish remain arguably the team to beat in international football, even though it is often though that South American World Cup venues favour the continent’s native countries. The French are only one point behind the Spanish, but remain one of Europe’s big boys that could be set for the play-offs.

Another such fancied team is Portgual, who had to come from 3-1 down to draw with Israel, but remain behind them in Group F. Thus, the three strong European nations whose participation in the final stages of the World Cup are Portugal, France and England, and the trio will certainly want to avoid one another should they end up in the play-offs.

All of the other big guns from the continent are in a strong position at this point in time. Italy, Germany and the Netherlands all top their group, and Belgian’s golden generation are top of Group A. This particular group will also provide a worthy team for the play-offs with both Belgium and Croatia currently on sixteen points, meaning that one of the two will certainly be in the play-offs. Belgium look to have one of the most talented squads in Europe at the moment, and Croatia are currently ranked in the top ten teams in the world, so whichever one ends up having to compete in the play-offs will be another candidate to avoid.

Group A Standings