(Football news) With the club football on hold International World Cup qualifiers are in full flow as teams like France, Portugal, Netherlands, Denmark all played their fourth match of the group. With Portugal and Denmark winning they look in a strong position to qualify as respective group leaders.

Portugal won 2-1 against the Republic of Ireland in the most dramatic fashion as two late goals sank the Irish spirit. The match began with Portugal dominating and this dominance showed as Bruno Fernandes won a penalty in the 15 minute which was taken by Ronaldo but the unthinkable happened as he missed it. The Irish were buoyed by the penalty save from the young 19 year old keeper Gavin Bazunu which in turn inspired them to score just before the first half ended through Joe Egan’s header. The second half began in the same manner but resolute defending from Ireland kept Portugal at bay for 90 minutes, then came Ronaldo who had the last laugh by scoring the winner with the last kick of the ball. With this win Portugal sit on top of group A with 10 points from four matches.

Also read: Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the all-time record goalscorer in International football

France were held to an unexpected 1-1 draw by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Didier Deschamps fielded his strongest eleven but an unnecessary challenge from Jules Kounde resulting in a red card meant that France played most of the second half with 10 men. Bosnia took the lead through their record goal scorer Edin Dzeko in the 36th minute but France quickly responded through a fortunate goal from Antoine Griezmann. France even after this draw sit on top of group D with two wins and two draws but the fight for the second position in the group is intensifying as Bosnia, Ukraine and Finland anyone can come second.

The match between Norway and Netherlands ended in a 1-1 draw as this was Louis Van Gaal’s first match back in charge. The Norwegians took the lead courtesy Erling Haaland in the 20th minute but were pegged back by the dutch through Davy Klaassen in the 36th minute. This draw makes Group G very interesting as Turkey lead the group but only by one point as Netherlands, Norway and Montenegro are all tied on 7 points.

Denmark took one step closer to qualification as they won 2-0 against Scotland as goals in the first 15 minutes from Daniel Wass and Maehle were enough to secure victory. With this victory Denmark have won all four matches in group F and currently sit on top with 12 points.

The other notable results were:

Austria 2 (Baumgartner, Arnautovic) – 0 Moldova

Russia 0 – 0 Croatia

Turkey 2 (Cengiz Under, Yazici) – 2 Montenegro (Marusic, Radunovic)

Slovenia 1 (Stojanovic) – 1 Slovakia (Bozenik)

Fixtures to keep an eye today:

Germany vs Liechtenstein

Italy vs Bulgaria

Estonia vs Belgium

Sweden vs Spain

Hungary vs England