Romania were the first to take FIFA Women’s World Cup Qualifying points off Switzerland, as Italy took advantage to gain ground on the Swiss.
Group A – Slovakia 1-1 Finland
Tuija Hyyrynen gave Finland an early lead but Slovakia earned a draw with Martina Surnovska’s 16th-mnute reply, leaving the Finns 11 points behind leaders Sweden.
Group B – Hungary 7-0 Faroe Islands
Group C – Netherlands 12-0 Cyprus
Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema hit a double hat-trick and Jill Roord a treble in the dozen goals scored by the Dutch, who returned to the top of the table.
Group D – Austria 3-1 Northern Ireland, Luxembourg P-P Latvia, North Macedonia 0-10 England
Beth Mead is joint top qualifying scorer with Denmark’s Manchester United striker Signe Bruun – and also assists leader – after her four goals in North Macedonia, where Ellen White netted a record 50th goal for England. Austria went three points ahead of Northern Ireland, while the weather accounted for the other tie.
Group E – Malta 0-2 Denmark
Janni Thomsen and Moller Holdt struck in the first eight minutes to give the Danes the win in Malta, their seventh straight victory in the group.
Group G – Italy 7-0 Lithuania, Moldova 0-1 Croatia, Romania 1-1 Switzerland
Switzerland’s perfect run was ended in Romania where Rahel Kiwic’s equaliser rescued them a point, Italy cut the gap on the Swiss to one point as Arianna Caruso and Valentina Bergamaschi each bagged a brace. Ella Ljustina got the only goal as Croatia won in Moldova.
Group I – Estonia 1-3 Greece, Kazakhstan 0-2 Slovenia, Wales 1-2 France
France are sure of a top-two finish following their narrow win in Wales, Slovenia went a point ahead of the Welsh with their victory in Kazakhstan. Birmingham City’s Veatriki Sarri sealed Greece’s success in Estonia after the hosts pulled a goal back.
Other internationals
Australia dramatically defeated New Zealand 2-1 with two stoppage-time goals. Anna Green put the Football Ferns in front but Emily van Egmond and Chelsea’s Sam Kerr hit very late goals.
Canada beat Nigeria 2-0 with second-half goals by Chelsea’s Jessie Fleming and also Vanessa Gilles.
The CONCACAF Championship Qualifiers saw goalless draws between Cuba and Honduras plus Guyana versus Nicaragua, Saint Kitts & Nevis win 2-1 in Guatemala, Dominican Republic edged Bermuda by the only goal, while there were 2-0 victories for Puerto Rico over Suriname and El Salvador against Barbados.
India won 1-0 away to mini-tournament hosts Jordan, Papua New Guinea sank the Seychelles 9-0 in the Singapore Tri-Series.
