Roundup of the penultimate round of UEFA Qualifying for 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
England, Republic of Ireland and Wales all entered this round looking for positive results in their bids to qualify for the World Cup next summer, whilst Scotland needed a result to swing in their favour to secure a play-off spot.
Various other teams meanwhile looked to bounce back from varied successes at this summer’s Euros in their bid to qualify for the World Cup if not already qualified.
Now, here is a roundup of the action across all nine groups as teams began to gear up for the conclusion of this qualifying competition.
Group A
Lily Agg’s 54th minute header saw Republic of Ireland defeat Finland in Dublin to secure a play-off spot, having climbed to second in June following a 9-0 victory away to Georgia in their rearranged qualifier in June, in which Katie McCabe scored three goals and Louise Quinn netted a brace.
Goals from Patricia Hmirova, Patricia Fischerova, Martina Surnovska and Jana Vojtekova all netted in a 4-0 away win for Slovakia against Georgia.
Already-qualified Group A winners, Sweden weren’t in action in this round of fixtures.
Group B
Goals from Esther Gonzalez, Irene Paredes and Patricia Guijarro saw already-qualified Group B winners, Spain thrash Hungary 3-0 in Madrid, which in turn guaranteed Scotland a play-off spot.
Nadiia Kunina’s brace and a goal from Lyubov Shmatko fired Ukraine up to third with a 3-0 away win over Faroe Islands, who were also already eliminated.
Group C
Netherlands regained top spot in June after thrashing Belarus 3-0 in their rearranged qualifier, as Jill Roord, Aniek Nouwen and Lineth Beerensteyn found the net.
Dagny Brynjarsdottir’s brace however helped Iceland thrash Belarus 6-0 in Reykjavik just over two months later, which put them back on top of Group C, thereby setting up a winner-takes-all showdown away to the Netherlands in the battle for automatic qualification.
Tereza Szewieczkova scored in a 2-1 away defeat to Belarus in June then again in a 6-0 away victory over Cyrpus in Larnaca.
Group D
Newly-crowned Euros champions, England returned to World Cup Qualifying action on a high, as goals from Alessia Russo and Nikita Parris fired Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses to automatic qualification in a 2-0 away win over Austria, who now head for the play-offs.
Second-half goals from Sarah Robson and Rebecca McKenna saw Northern Ireland win 2-1 away to Luxembourg, which secured a third-placed finish for the Irish team in Group D.
Natasa Andonova’s brace and Gentjana Rochi’s effort saw North Macedonia stay off the foot of the group, following a 3-2 home win over Latvia.
Group E
Already-qualified Denmark remain unbeaten after thrashing Montenegro 5-1 in Viborg, with Chelsea’s Pernile Harder amongst the goalscorers.
Goals from Kristina Bakarandze and Diana Mammadova saw Azerbaijan defeat Malta in Ta’ Qali to climb to fourth.
Bosnia and Herzegovinia weren’t in action because their match against Russia was cancelled, due to the Russian’s disqualification from the competition for political reasons.
Group F
Tuva Hansen’s 61st minute winner saw Norway defeat Belgium to secure automatic qualification for a ninth World Cup.
Ewa Pajor’s brace saw Poland fight back to defeat Albania 2-1 in Eibasan which moved the Polish to within two points of second-placed Belgium, although they will need a win against Kosovo and for Belgium to lose in Armenia to secure a play-off.
Late goals from Valentina Metaj and Donjeta Halilaj saw Kosvo clinch a comeback win over Armenia who led through Blerta Smaili’s 77th minute own goal.
Group G
Arianna Caruso struck four goals as Italy bounced back from their lacklustre Euro campaign with a 8-0 away victory over Moldova to stay top of Group G, and moved to within one win of automatic qualification for a second consecutive World Cup.
Second-half goals from Ramona Bachmann and Luana Buhler saw Switzerland stay two points behind in second, needing a win and for Italy to lose their final qualifier if they’re to advance automatically.
Laura Rus’ brace helped third-placed Romania thrash Lithuania 7-1 in Vilnius.
Group H
Second-half goals from Felicitas Rauch, Klara Buhl and Lea Schuller saw Euro runners-up, Germany win 3-0 away to Turkey which secured automatic qualification for the World Cup.
Portugal jumped Serbia into second following a comeback 2-1 win in Stara Pazova as Francisca Nazareth struck a first-half injury-time winner after Joana Marchao cancelled out Andela Frajtovic’s sixth-minute opener.
Eden Avital scored twice across two matches as Israel recorded 2-0 wins over Bulgaria, with their first match played in June following postponement from September 2021.
Group I
Oulayemata Sarr netted four goals and Clara Mateo scored twice as already-qualified France thrashed Estonia 9-0, with this summer’s Euro semi-finalists now one match away from competing their campaign without dropping any points.
Wales remain second after Carrie Jones’ maiden international goal guided them to a narrow away win over Greece, which has left the Welsh needing just one more point to qualify for the Play-Offs.
Slovenia defeated Kazakhstan 2-0 with goals from Sara Makovec and Mateja Zver to keep their play-off ambitions alive, as they visit Wales in a winner-takes-all showdown in Cardiff in their final group match.
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