Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland enjoyed memorable nights in their final World Cup qualifiers as they secured their places in the play-off draw, while Northern Ireland were unable to make the cut despite winning themselves.
For Wales and the Republic of Ireland, they are on the cusp of reaching the World Cup finals for the first time in their history and for Wales it would be their first major tournament appearance. As for Scotland, they made their World Cup debut at France 2019.
In Group I, Wales held third-placed Slovenia to a nervy 0-0 draw at the Cardiff City Stadium as they had to battle hard to get themselves over the line and into the play-off draw. Never before had they been within a point of qualifying for the play-offs. It was an excellent night in the Welsh capital as The Dragons doubled their record attendance with 12,741 witnessing history being made.
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Over in Group A, the Republic of Ireland defeated Slovakia 1-0 in Senec as Denise O’Sullivan’s 37th-minute strike (fifth of the campaign) sealed her side’s place in the play-off draw following an impressive victory over Finland last week. Ireland knew that victory over Slovakia would see them qualify as one of the three best teams of the nine that reached the play-offs, which would see them get a bye to the second stage of the eliminators.
As for Group B, Scotland recorded a comfortable 6-0 victory over the Faroe Islands as former Manchester City star Caroline Weir scored and assisted as her side took another giant step closer to qualifying for back-to-back World Cups for the first time ever. Unlike Ireland, they and Wales are going to be in the draw for the first stage of the play-offs.
Ireland, Iceland and Switzerland comprise the sides given a bye to the second stage, and they will enter the draw with the teams that progress from the first stage of the play-offs.
The draw for the play-offs takes place on Friday 9th September at 12:30pm BST. The fixtures themselves will take place on 6th and 11th October.
