Wow well that was quite the night down in Dublin! The roar when Ronaldo got sent off was wonderful!

Went to the England match tonight. Another solid win and Serbia have now missed out on the play-offs!

Matchday 9 - Monday

Group D

Azerbaijan 0-2 Iceland

France 4-0 Ukraine

Group F

Armenia 0-1 Hungary

Republic of Ireland 2-0 Portugal

Group I

Norway 4-1 Estonia

Moldova 0-2 Italy

Group K

Andorra 0-1 Albania

England 2-0 Serbia

France are the 2nd European nation to qualify while Albania book a play-off spot

Serbia underwhelming as usual in the qualifiers and they have so many good players

Apparently, the act from Ronaldo could mean a 2-3 game suspension according to FIFA rules, so potentially could mean he misses the first game or two of the World Cup itself. I doubt FIFA does that though.

Everything I outlined about the Norway-Italy situation coming to fruition. It's a formality now. The goal differential is just too much. I wonder if there's a way Italy could face North Macedonia if both are in the playoffs. 😏

Happy for Albania.

Group D - Iceland at Ukraine (played in Warsaw) decides a playoff berth. Ukraine advances only with a win, but Iceland can also advance in a draw.

Group F - Let's face it, Portugal will win their home match against Armenia and qualify directly. So, it comes down to Hungary hosting Ireland. Ireland can only advance with a win; any other scenario sees Hungary through.

Group I - As outlined before Italy would need a +9 victory, so this will be Norway qualifying and Italy going to playoffs and hoping to avoid North Macedonia.

Edited November 14Nov 14 by DJHazey

Matchday 9 - Friday

Group A

Luxembourg 0-2 Germany

Slovakia 1-0 Northern Ireland

Group G

Finland 0-1 Malta

Poland 1-1 Netherlands

Group L

Croatia 3-1 Faroe Islands

Gibraltar 1-2 Montenegro

Croatia have become the third European nation to qualify.

Now that Norway are almost qualified it will be interesting to see Haaland play in his first World Cup. I don't know how good Norway are as a squad of players but if Haaland takes his current goalscoring form into the tournament and gets 2-3 goals per game Norway could go quite far as it would be hard to lose matches from those kind of positions unless if their defence is very poor.

Norway have a decent overall side as with all things Haaland needs a good team behind him. He’s shared the goals with Alexander Sorloth of Athletico, Antonio Nusa and Wolves Sander Berge. Then of course it’s hugely important that Odegard is fit in midfield along with Oscar Bobb of Man City. They also have the Brentford player Ajer at the back.

Matchday 9 - Saturday

Group B

Slovenia 0-2 Kosovo

Switzerland 4-1 Sweden

Group C

Denmark 2-2 Belarus

Greece 3-2 Scotland

Group E

Georgia 0-4 Spain

Turkey 2-0 Bulgaria

Group H

Cyprus 0-2 Austria

Bosnia & Herzegovina 3-1 Romania

Group J

Kazakhstan 1-1 Belgium

Lichtenstein 0-1 Wales

What a missed opportunity for Scotland!

Matchday 9 - Tables

Group A

1. Germany 5/6 (+7) 12

2. Slovakia 5/6 (+4) 12

3. Northern Ireland 5/6 (0) 6

4. Luxembourg 5/6 (-11) 0

Group B

1. Switzerland 5/6 (+12) 13

2. Kosovo 5/6 (+1) 10

3. Slovenia 5/6 (-5) 3

4. Sweden 5/6 (-8) 1

Group C

1. Denmark 5/6 (+11) 11

2. Scotland 5/6 (+4) 10

3. Greece 5/6 (-2) 6

4. Belarus 5/6 (-13) 1

Group D

1. France 5/6 (+10) 13

2. Iceland 5/6 (+4) 7

3. Ukraine 5/6 (-3) 7

4. Azerbaijan 5/6 (-11) 1

Group E

1. Spain 5/6 (+19) 15

2. Turkey 5/6 (+5) 12

3. Georgia 5/6 (-7) 3

4. Bulgaria 5/6 (-17) 0

Group F

1. Portugal 5/6 (+5) 10

2. Hungary 5/6 (+2) 8

3. Republic of Ireland 5/6 (+1) 7

4. Armenia 5/6 (-8) 3

Group G

1. Netherlands 7/8 (+19) 17

2. Poland 7/8 (+6) 14

3. Finland 8/8 (-6) 10

4. Malta 7/8 (-14) 5

5. Lithuania 7/8 (-5) 3

Group H

1. Austria 7/8 (+18) 18

2. Bosnia & Herzegovina 7/8 (+10) 16

3. Romania 7/8 (+3) 10

4. Cyprus 8/8 (0) 8

5. San Marino 7/8 (-31) 0

Group I

1. Norway 7/8 (+29) 21

2. Italy 7/8 (+12) 18

3. Israel 7/8 (-4) 9

4. Estonia 8/8 (-13) 4

5. Moldova 7/8 (-24) 1

Group J

1. Belgium 7/8 (+15) 15

2. North Macedonia 7/8 (+9) 13

3. Wales 7/8 (+4) 13

4. Kazakhstan 8/8 (-4) 8

5. Liechtenstein 7/8 (-24) 0

Group K

1. England 7/8 (+20) 21

2. Albania 7/8 (+4) 14

3. Serbia 7/8 (-2) 10

4. Latvia 7/8 (-9) 5

5. Andorra 8/8 (-13) 1

Group L

1. Croatia 7/8 (+21) 19

2. Czech Republic 7/8 (+4) 13

3. Faroe Islands 8/8 (+2) 12

4. Montenegro 7/8 (-8) 9

5. Gibraltar 7/8 (-19) 0

After Matchday 9

Qualification:

Austria

Belgium

Croatia

Denmark

England

France

Germany

Netherlands

Norway

Portugal

Spain

Switzerland

Play-Offs (12 runners-up and 4 Nations League qualifiers):

Albania

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Czech Republic

Hungary

Iceland

Italy

Kosovo

North Macedonia

Northern Ireland

Poland

Romania

Scotland

Slovakia

Sweden

Turkey

Wales

Three nations have qualified and four nations have booked play-off spots with one matchday to go.

16 hours ago, Steve201 said:

Norway have a decent overall side as with all things Haaland needs a good team behind him. He’s shared the goals with Alexander Sorloth of Athletico, Antonio Nusa and Wolves Sander Berge. Then of course it’s hugely important that Odegard is fit in midfield along with Oscar Bobb of Man City. They also have the Brentford player Ajer at the back.

I forgot about Odegard and didn't know Oscar Bobb was from there, looks like they have a decent squad as you mentioned. They should do quite well then at the World Cup unless if they are put in a group of death.

Wow at that Ireland game. How they've managed that after being beat by Armenia is crazy.

That's why I always think qualifiers >>> having more Nations League games and hate that they've changed the format.

What drama in Budapest, Ireland scoring in the last minute of injury time to make it to the playoffs. A hat-trick for Troy Parrott. 😃

Portugal have secured their place at the World Cup with a 9-1 win against Armenia. Cristiano Ronaldo will miss the first two games of his last World Cup tournament due to the red card he received a few days ago.

Yeh was quite the game in Budapest, best week for Irish football in 10 years! Bring on the playoffs!

Matchday 10 - Sunday

Group D

Azerbaijan 1-3 France

Ukraine 2-0 Iceland

Group F

Hungary 2-3 Republic of Ireland

Portugal 9-1 Armenia

Group I

Israel 4-1 Moldova

Italy 1-4 Norway

Group K

Albania 0-2 England

Serbia 2-1 Latvia

Congratulations to Portugal and Norway who book their places at the World Cup

Roberto Baggio, Dino Zoff, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Sergio Leone, Julius Caesar, Giuseppe Verdi, i vostri ragazzi hanno preso una bella batosta

Any questions about Norway's strength as a squad now? Like I said before, I don't think there is a team in the world playing better than Norway right now, except maybe Spain and Argentina.