The European Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 competition continues on Friday night when the latest matches on four more groups are played out as we start to get closer to determining who will qualify for the finals.
Friday is a night where the former champions Germany and France will look to enhance their qualifying hopes while teams like Belgium and Sweden will also be out to show their credentials as we get to the business end of qualifying.
Group A
One of the groups to be played out on Friday evening is Group A where Germany will be expected to come out on top but they go into the night in third place in the table but they should be looking to make progress when they host the minnows Luxembourg in a game which should be a home win. The other match in the group is massive as Northern Ireland host Slovakia with the winners staying out in front of Germany and the losers open to being swallowed up by them.
Group B
Switzerland are already out in front in Group B and they will look to take a giant step towards securing their qualification for the main finals when they travel to a Sweden side for whom winning is the only option after a terrible beginning to their campaign last month. Slovenia are the other side who haven’t got going in this campaign yet and if they are going to be relevant in it then they will have to travel to Kosovo and win. Kosovo can cement their playoff place should they come out on top in the game.
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Group D
France were expected to cruise into the main draw from Group D and they will go in search of a third win in as many matches when they host the weakest team in the group in the form of Azerbaijan. The other match feels massive in the race for second spot though. Iceland are currently in that position and they will host Ukraine knowing that a win would have them on the verge of securing the playoff spot but a defeat would leave them needing help if they are to finish second.
Group J
The day actually gets underway in Group J where Kazakhstan and Liechtenstein are the first two teams to kick off in a match where the former know that they have to win if they are to have any hope of doing anything in this campaign while the latter already know they are playing out time in the competition. The other match in the group is much the bigger one as North Macedonia look to keep hold of top spot when they travel to a surging Belgium side who could really assume control of the section with a big three days.
Betting
I was tempted to take Switzerland to get the better of Sweden given how poorly the Swedes have started but with Alexander Isak now up and running I wonder if the Scandinavians will improve as a result of that so I will go with another bet which comes in the form of the goals in the match between Northern Ireland and Slovakia, with the line low which doesn’t necessarily take into account the change in mindset in the home side.
This isn’t the 2016 Northern Ireland who were happy to soak up pressure and rely on set plays, this is a team who get up the pitch a lot more and after their defeat to Germany last time out they know this is a match they have to win given that they have the reverse meeting with the Germans in the next game. Northern Ireland have scored in their last nine matches so if they score here, given that the goal line is just 2, we will be halfway to what we need but this isn’t a match that Slovakia can afford to lose despite their good start to the campaign so were Northern Ireland to score, they would have to come out a little more. That makes me think this will be a bit more open than expected and over 2 goals feels a fair play.
Tips
Back Northern Ireland vs Slovakia – Over 2 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.98 with Bet365
