On the last day of the 3rd round of 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification from UEFA zone, Germany clinched their third straight clean sheet victory in the ongoing WC qualifiers after beating Northern Ireland by 2-0. On the other hand, with Lewandowski’s injury time goal, Poland snatched a victory against Armenia, while England and Czech Republic were held to goalless draws by Slovenia and Azerbaijan respectively.
In a Group C encounter, hosts Germany beat Northern Ireland by 2-0 as Germany maintained their clean sheet record in this ongoing WC qualifiers after the end of the 3rd round game. Julian Draxler opened the scoreline for Germany in 13 minutes with a well-placed low shot. 4 minutes later, Sami Khedira extended the lead by 2-0 with a header. In the 37 minutes, Mario Gotze’s goal was denied due to earlier offside of fellow Thomas Muller, who superbly assisted that ball but unfortunately was in offside position.
Further, Germany tried to extend their lead but failed while Northern Ireland hardly looked competitive against the hosts. At the end, Germany won the match by 2-0.
On the other hand in the same group matches, Norway beat San Marino by 4-1 while Czech Republic were held to goalless draw by Azerbaijan.
With Davide Simoncini’s own goal in 11 minute, San Marino went behind by 1-0 against the hosts Norway. In 54 minutes, Mattia Stefanelli scored the equaliser for the visitors which was also the only shot on goal for the visitors in the whole match. Adama Diomande once again put ahead the hosts in the match in 77 minutes. After that, Martin Samuelsen (82′) and Joshua King (83′) scored two back-to-back goals for the hosts to stretch the lead to 4-1 which was also the final score in the match.
Czech Republic failed to find their first victory in this ongoing WC qualifiers as they were held to a goalless draw against Azerbaijan in the home game.
In the Group F contests, England and Slovenia shared a point each after the match ended a goalless draw while hosts Slovakia and Lithuania cruised to victories against Scotland and Malta respectively.
In the ongoing WC qualifiers, England failed to get their third consecutive victory but maintained their clean sheet records as “The Three Lions” held to a goalless draw against the hosts Slovenia.
With the help of Robert Mak’s brace (18’ and 56’) and Adam Nemec’s goal in 68 minutes, hosts Slovakia beat Scotland by 3-0.
On the other hand, hosts Lithuania cruised to a 2-0 victory against 10-man Malta. With the help of Fedor Chernykh’s header, Lithuania broke the deadlock with a header in 75 minutes of the match. Malta’s centre-back Jonathan Caruana was shown red card in 82 minutes for making a violent foul into the penalty box which was also awarded penalty for the hosts. From that penalty, Arvydas Novikovas converted to a goal for the hosts as Lithuania took 2-0 lead over the visitors till the end of the match.
In the Tuesday’s first game, Kazakhstan vs Romania ended a goalless draw in the Group E encounter.
In other Group E matches, hosts Poland beat 10-man Armenia with an injury time goal from Lewandowski while Montenegro edged past the hosts Denmark.
Armenia went down to 10-man in 30 minutes when Gael Andonian was booked for the second time in this match. Just 2 minutes earlier, Andonian was booked for the first time in this match. Armenian defender Hrayr Mkoyan increased the headache for his team after scoring an own goal in the 48 minutes as the hosts took 1-0 lead in the scoreboard.
However, 2 minutes later Marcos Pineiro Pizzelli equalised the scoreline (1-1) for Armenia from an outstanding free-kick. In the final minute of the injury time, Robert Lewandowski scored the winning goal for Poland with a perfect header from Jakub Blaszczykowski crossed free-kick.
On the other hand, Montenegro edged past the hosts Denmark with the only goal from Fatos Beqiraj on 31 minutes of the match.
Brief Scores:
Group C
Germany 2 – 0 Northern Ireland
Czech Republic 0 – 0 Azerbaijan
Norway 4 – 1 San Marino
Group E
Kazakhstan 0 – 0 Romania
Denmark 0 – 1 Montenegro
Poland 2 – 1 Armenia
Group F
Slovenia 0 – 0 England
Slovakia 3 – 0 Scotland
Lithuania 2 – 0 Malta
Group Standings after the end of Round 3
Group C
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| 1 | Germany | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +8 | 9 |
| 2 | Azerbaijan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 7 |
| 3 | Northern Ireland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 4 |
| 4 | Norway | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 3 |
| 5 | Czech Republic | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -3 | 2 |
| 6 | San Marino | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -8 | 0 |
(Note: GD = goals differences)
Group E
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| 1 | Montenegro | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +6 | 7 |
| 2 | Poland | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 7 |
| 3 | Romania | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | +5 | 5 |
| 4 | Denmark | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 3 |
| 5 | Kazakhstan | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -5 | 2 |
| 6 | Armenia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -7 | 0 |
(Note: GD = goals differences)
Group F
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| 1 | England | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +3 | 7 |
| 2 | Lithuania | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 5 |
| 3 | Slovenia | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | +1 | 5 |
| 4 | Scotland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 4 |
| 5 | Slovakia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 3 |
| 6 | Malta | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -8 | 0 |
(Note: GD = goals differences)