International Update...

Hope you all survived the weekend, the weather was good, the football not so much so. In fact some people even watched Rugby in the absence of Premier League football

Group A
Scotland (15pts) are within touching distance of qualification after their 3-0 win in Cyprus. A draw tomorrow between Norway and Georgia (both on 4pts) does it.
Spain (6) continued their revival in the group with a 7-1 win over Georgia, and now sit second ahead of their home tie against Cyprus.

Group B
Republic of Ireland are all but out following their defeats to France and the Netherlands. The French match Scotlands 100% record, but not quite through yet. The Dutch move level with Greece on 9 points, 6 behind France, with the Netherlands having played a game less.

Group C
England lost their 100% record on Saturday, but Italy's draw in North Macedonia means England maintain a 9 point lead over 3rd placed Italy. Ukraine go to Italy tomorrow 3 points ahead of their hosts in what could be a decisive match in the group.

Group D
Croatia improved their position with a 5-0 win over Latvia and are away to Armenia now - the country they are level on points (7pts) with in the group but with a game in hand. The Armenians drew with group leaders Turkey (10pts) on Friday to open up the group for Croatia and give a chance to Wales who sit 4th on 4 points. The Welsh face bottom team Latvia (0) tonight.

Group E
Poland find themselves in a bit of trouble after losing to Albania 2-0 yesterday. Albania top the group with 10 points, while Poland are 4th with 6 points. Czech Republic have an extra game, and sit on 8pts level with Moldova. Lots to play for in the next 2 breaks.

Group F
Belgium moved to the top of the group with 10pts after beating Azerbaijan 1-0. They face Estonia tomorrow, but the big game for this group is Sweden versus Austria. The Swedes closed the gap to 4 points by beating Estonia 5-0 and need a win to stay competitive.

Group G
Hungary came out of this period best off, winning their only match 2-1 against 2nd placed Serbia. The Serbians won yesterday in Lithuania to stay level on 10 points with Hungary, but the Hungarians have one more game left to play. Montenegro will rue a 94th minute Lithuania equaliser, as they sit 2 points adrift the qualifying places.

Group H
Northern Ireland are all but out bar a mathematical miracle. Defeats to Slovenia and Kazakhstan mean they are 10 points behind 2nd with 4 games to go. Slovenia picked up maximum points to top the table on 13, joined by Denmark who also took 6 points - most noticeably against Finland. The Finnish won a big tie of their own away to Kazakhstan, meaning both now are on 12 points.

Group I
Switzerland surprisingly dropped 2 points in Kosovo, but Romania and Israel drew with each other to mean the group stays as it was before tomorrows games. The Swiss (11pts), Romania (9) and Israel (8) are all expected to beat Andorra (2), Kosovo (4) and Belarus (4) respectively.

Group J
Portugal made it 5 out of 5 with a hard fought 1-0 win over 2nd placed Slovakia. That meant Luxembourg joined Slovakia on 10 points with their 1-0 win over Iceland. Luxembourg meet Portugal tonight while Slovakia meet bottom placed Liechtenstein.


The good news for the Irish sides and Wales is there is a second chance. However, the level of goodness differs. Wales look a good shout for getting a Play-off place from the Nations League placings. On current standing they would be in with Italy, Poland and Estonia (don't ask!).
For Republic of Ireland, they would need two teams above them in the NL placings who currently aren't in auto places to qualify from the groups, but not at the expense of other teams placed above them in the NL rankings!!
Northern Ireland need a miracle.