Croatia qualifies for World Cup by beating Faroe Islands and Netherlands move closer

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Croatia secured a place at next year s World Cup with a - win that ended tiny Faroe Islands dream on Friday and the Netherlands moved closer to qualification by drawing in Poland Croatia knew before kickoff that avoiding defeat in Rijeka would guarantee qualification but it was caught cold in the th minute when Geza D vid Turi scored with a deflected shot The World Cup runner-up hastily recovered however as Jo ko Gvardiol leveled in the rd Making his return to the national association after two years away Petar Musa put Croatia ahead - after halftime from Josip Stani i s assist In complete control Croatia added a third goal when Nikola Vla i volleyed in a precise cross from Ivan Peri i at the far post Related Articles Qualifying process for World Cup hits the final stretch France qualifies for World Cup Ronaldo sent off as Portugal loses to Ireland FIFA announces new peace prize to be awarded at World Cup draw in Washington World Cup hype collides with the reality of cartel violence in the Mexican state of Jalisco With major sporting events will San Jose escape San Francisco s shadow Our goal was achieved with a contest to spare in the qualifiers We can proudly say we ve qualified Gvardiol revealed We ll tour to Montenegro for the final match in a relaxed manner but with the intention of taking all three points as every tournament is preparation for what awaits us in the summer It was Faroe Islands final match in Group L and the company will finish behind runner-up the Czech Republic The second-placed band advances to the playoffs for the World Cup co-hosted by the United States Canada and Mexico Montenegro beat Gibraltar - in the group s other event Big draw for the Dutch Coach Ronald Koeman s Netherlands came from behind in Warsaw to draw with Poland - and take a major step toward direct qualification in Group G With one match left to play the Dutch top the group three points clear of the Poles after Memphis Depay s second-half equalizer canceled Jakub Kami ski s opener The Netherlands also has a much better goal difference before the final match against Lithuania Poland takes on Malta on Monday I am more disappointed than happy but on the other hand we made another step toward qualification Koeman declared It is not easy to play against teams who defend very deep We had to be sufferer we had to try to attack in different techniques but we did not create enough good opportunities Germany and Slovakia fighting for top spot In Group A Germany is guaranteed of a top-two finish after Nick Woltemade scored twice in a scrappy - win at Luxembourg Slovakia scored late to beat visiting Northern Ireland - In the second half the commitment was noticeably better and we also scored two good goals Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann stated We might have deserved to concede but we didn t so we can consider ourselves lucky Germany and Slovakia are level on points and will face off on Monday in Leipzig in a match that will decide the group winner Slovakia had two goals disallowed before Tom Bob ek broke the deadlock in added time Malta upsets Finland for a rare win Malta snatched its first win in World Cup qualifying converting its only shot on target to stun Finland - in Helsinki in Group G According to the Malta Football Association this was only the fourth win ever by Malta in World Cup qualifying Midfielder Jake Grech came off the bench in the th minute and scored the decisive goal three minutes later from the edge of the area It was only Malta s second goal in seven qualifiers against conceded Malta rose to fourth in Europe Group G five points behind Finland which can t qualify AP soccer https apnews com hub soccer