A nervous November beckons for some of the bigger beasts of international football following the latest round of World Cup qualifiers, particularly those in Europe, where signs of fatigue were evident over the weekend after a long club season.
With six games completed of the 10-match group stage, some authentic heavyweights are staring down the prospect of ordeal via play-off in nine months’ time.
As the groups now stand, the reigning champions of Europe – Portugal – the runners-up from the last European championship – France – and the four-time winners of the World Cup – Italy – are in second place in their respective groups, and so en route for November’s play-offs for a place at Russia 2018.
To this distinguished list you could add Argentina, second at the last World Cup, but fifth at the moment in South American qualifying, a position which would mean playing off against an Oceania team, probably New Zealand.
Netherlands, third at the World Cup in Brazil, are shy even of second spot in a Group A, which took a dramatic twist in Stockholm.
There, Hugo Lloris – fresh past his milestone of becoming the most capped France goalkeeper in history – blemished his 89th international with a bold safari out of his penalty area and a misplaced pass to Sweden’s Ola Toivonen, on the halfway line.
With an act of imaginative daring of which Zlatan Ibrahimovic would have been proud, Toivonen shot from fully 50 metres, and with Lloris far from his unguarded goal, scored, to put Sweden 2-1 up, and depose France from the summit of Group A.
“Catastrophic,” France manager Didier Deschamps called the error.
That happened in the 94th minute, one of several late match-changing goals. That might be taken as symptom of tiredness, from defenders, keepers, players coming off gruelling 60-plus club campaigns that have kept them busy, and stressed from mid-August to the end of May.
England’s goalkeeper Joe Hart – his club position uncertain, unwanted by Manchester City and not likely to return to Torino, where he spent the last nine months on loan – conceded two free-kicks against Scotland after the 86th minute. Harry Kane scored even later, to keep that All-British battle in Group F to 2-2 and England two points clear of Slovakia.
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Also from Ian Hawkey
Iceland: Victims of their own success
Netherlands: Qualification still possible
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The Republic of Ireland, meanwhile, stayed in a potential play-off spot in Group D thanks to Jonathan Walters’s 85th-minute equaliser against Austria. The Irish are equal on points with leaders Serbia, who came back from a goal down to draw with Wales, who have ground to make up if they are to reach their first World Cup wince 1958.
A late goal tightened up a competitive Group I, Hordur Magnusson meeting a Gylfi Sigurdsson corner to break an impasse for Iceland against Croatia in the 90th minute of the contest between first and second.
Iceland, aiming to reach a World Cup for the first time in their history, now trail the Croatians only on goal difference, but Turkey and Ukraine, both two points behind, remain hopeful of climbing up during the four fixtures that remain. The joint leaders both still have to travel to Turkey.
If Iceland are establishing themselves as European football’s mightiest minnows, then Northern Ireland, who reached the last 16 of Euro 2016 are not so far behind. Their doggedness once again yielded points.
Their trip to Azerbaijan has drifted into stoppage time at 0-0. Stuart Dallas’s 92nd minute changed that. Northern Ireland are four points ahead of the Czech Republic in the play-off zone of their group, although they should probably give up hope of winning the pool.
Germany are top of it, have won six out of six, conceded just one goal in qualifying and meted out a 7-0 walloping of San Marino.
The other nation on maximum points are Switzerland, who are keeping Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal off the top of their group. The Swiss, who beat the Faroe Islands thanks to goals from Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, are on a roll, unbeaten in open play in competitive matches – they were knocked out of Euro 2016 on penalties – for almost two years.
But the big result in Switzerland and Portugal’s Group B?
Andorra’s 1-0 win over Hungary. If anyone is on a roll, it is tiny Andorra. The part-timers had not won a qualifier for a more than a decade. They have now taken four points from their last two. In theory, they could still make it to Russia.
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