Germany on the brink of World Cup qualification after win against Luxembourg; Slovakia beats Northern Ireland

Germany forward Nick Woltemade scored twice in the second half to give the four-time world champions a hard-earned 2-0 win over Luxembourg in the penultimate FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier on Friday, putting the country on the brink of automatic qualification.

Woltemade, who has now scored his team’s last three goals having also scored the winner in the 1-0 win over Northern Ireland last month, put the visitors ahead in the 49th minute as the Germans surprisingly trailed off for much of the first half.

The Newcastle United striker added another in the 69th to keep Germany top of Group A with 12 points, while Slovakia, the next opponents on Monday, are in second place on goal difference.

Julian Nagelsmann’s team really missed an advantage up front in the first half, with the pitch littered with defensive errors allowing Luxembourg to create several scoring opportunities.

However, Germany will now secure its ticket to next year’s World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, with a win or draw in Monday’s final qualifying match against the Slovaks.

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The group winner earns automatic qualification while the second-placed team enters the play-offs in March.

Slovakia takes victory over Northern Ireland

Slovakian Tomas Bobcek scored in stoppage time to seal a dramatic 1-0 win over Northern Ireland on Friday after two VAR disallowed goals, with both sides securing at least a play-off spot.

In Slovakia, two second-half goals were disallowed after VAR reviews at the Kosice Football Arena before Bobcek curled the ball home from a corner with goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell well out of his net in the 91st minute, sending the home fans into raptures.

It was the third time we were lucky. The home side celebrated what they thought was his first goal in the 55th minute when Lukas Haraslin won a free kick and fired a low shot into the net, but Milan Skriniar was offside and hindered Peacock-Farrell.

There were more rollercoaster emotions ten minutes later when David Streelec got Haraslin’s free-kick into the far corner of the net, but VAR determined it had gone off the arm of the Middlesbrough striker.

Northern Ireland, where Daniel Ballard was sent off in the 99th minute, will host last-placed Luxembourg on Monday.

Published on November 15, 2025