Austria are guaranteed a spot via the Nations League route.Ģ. Portugal, Italy, Poland, Scotland, Russia, Sweden and North Macedonia have qualified as runners-up.Įither Wales or the Czech Republic will be runners-up in Group E, but whoever is not will get a spot via the Nations League route. There are three qualifying spots at Qatar 2022, to be played for by 12 teams: 10 group runners-up plus the two highest ranked winners of Nations League groups that have not qualified otherwise. Stuart Dallas was fit to start having missed training on Sunday but Paddy McNair, who had pulled up with a hamstring problem in the 1-0 win against Lithuania on Friday, was replaced in defence by Tom Flanagan.īaraclough had emphasised the need to start players getting regular club football against Lithuania but three days later restored Jamal Lewis, who has played only six minutes of Premier League football at Newcastle this season, to his side ahead of Shane Ferguson.ġ. The Leicester centre-back was imperious at the heart of defence, his performances this week showing what Northern Ireland were missing as he sat out the crunch part of the qualifying campaign through injury. There were superb performances across the pitch from Northern Ireland, though the best of them came from Jonny Evans. With Switzerland beating Bulgaria 4-0 to top Group C, Italy – who failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup after going into the play-offs – must settle for second place while Northern Ireland made sure of third.
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