Northern Ireland’s World Cup play-off spot confirmed after Scotland defeat

Northern Ireland’s place in the play-offs for the World Cup finals has been confirmed after Scotland drew with Slovenia.
Only eight of the nine group runners-up will make it through to next month’s play-offs and Slovakia, who finished second in Group F at Scotland’s expense, ended their qualification campaign with fewer adjusted points than the Northern Irish.
Confirmation of their play-off berth arrived less than an hour before Michael O’Neill’s side played their final group game in Norway on Sunday.
Northern Ireland had guaranteed second spot last month with a 2-0 victory over Czech Republic but, with results against the bottom-placed sides in each group discounted in the race for the play-offs, their situation was still not resolved heading into this international break.
They began the day knowing anything other than a Scotland victory would see them make it through regardless of how they fared at the Ullevaal Stadion.
The draw for the play-offs takes place on 17 October, and it will be seeded, meaning Northern Ireland’s result against Norway on Sunday evening is still important if they want to potentially avoid the likes of Portugal, Italy and Wales.

SOURCE : GUARDIAN SPORTS
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