☑️ Brazil’s recent nemesis books spot at 2026 World Cup, 🇳🇱 cruising and more | OneFootball

There are now 30 teams confirmed for the 2026 World Cup.

Two could have secured their spot in next year's tournament this Friday (14th): Croatia and the Netherlands.

But only the team that knocked Brazil out in Qatar 2022 succeeded.

Memphis & Co. didn't win, but are in a great position.

The day of European Qualifiers for the World Cup in Mexico, the United States, and Canada also saw Germany in action and much more.

Check out the highlights from the matches below.

Regulations 📝

Only the top team in each of the 12 groups qualifies directly for the World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada.

The 12 teams finishing second in their respective groups will be joined by the four best teams from the Nations League that did not finish 1st or 2nd in the Qualifiers, for a playoff that will award four more spots.

🇭🇷 Croatia 3 x 1 Faroe Islands 🇫🇴

The surprising Faroe Islands showed they had the right to dream. They took the lead at 16', after Turi scored with a deflection to open the scoring.

Croatia's dominance intensified. The expected equalizer came after Gvardiol's initiative at 23'.

The turnaround came at 12' of the second half. Set up by Stanisic, Musa broke free from his marker and celebrated the goal.

📸 STRINGER - AFP or licensors

Perisic's great play down the left ended with a goal by Vlasic (70').

Croatia reached 19 points in Group L. Six more than the Czech Republic, who secured their playoff spot before the final round.

With eight games played, the Faroe Islands would only have had a chance with a win. But they stalled at 12 points.

Croatia is heading to its seventh World Cup out of eight possible as an independent nation. They debuted in 1998, when they only lost to France—the eventual champions—in the semifinals.

They were runners-up in 2018—again beaten by France—and also reached the semifinals in 2022, when they saw future champions Argentina advance to the final.

They also participated in the 2002, 2006, and 2014 editions, but did not advance to the Round of 16.

The other group match was Gibraltar 🆚 Montenegro, with Montenegro winning 2-1 away from home.

Gibraltar took the lead at 20', with Jessop. But the turnaround came before halftime with Adzic, a Juventus prospect, at 33', and Krstovic from the penalty spot (42').

Montenegro reached nine points, leaving Gibraltar with zero.

🇵🇱 Poland 1 x 1 Netherlands 🇳🇱

The visitors had more possession from the start at the National Stadium in Warsaw.

But they struggled to create real danger for Grabara's goal.

Then Poland struck on the counterattack. After Memphis lost the ball, Lewa received from Kaminski, spun past Timber's marking, and returned it to number 13 to score (43').

📸 WOJTEK RADWANSKI - AFP or licensors

The Dutch equalizer came just a minute into the second half.

Memphis took advantage of a loose ball in the box to score his 55th goal for the Netherlands.

📸 WOJTEK RADWANSKI - AFP or licensors

That’s now 23 in World Cup Qualifiers. Eight in the current campaign. Only Haaland (14) has more.

The game opened up, with Poland needing to get back in front.

But no more goals came, repeating the score from the reverse fixture.

The Netherlands reached 17 points in Group G, compared to Poland's 14.

A draw against Lithuania at the Johan Cruijff Arena will be enough to confirm their qualification.

Lewa & Co. are in trouble. They can only avoid the playoffs if the Netherlands suffer an unlikely heavy defeat and they thrash Malta away.

The Dutch have a goal difference advantage of 13—19 to 6.

Earlier, Finland surprisingly lost at home to Malta 1-0, ending their Qualifying campaign with ten points.

Their slim playoff hopes depended on a win and then hoping for Poland to slip up.

🇱🇺 Luxembourg 0 x 2 Germany 🇩🇪

The Luxembourg side had the best chances of the first half, threatening with Sinani and Dardari. The visitors' greater possession had no effect.

German nerves eased thanks to Woltemade. Great run by Sané—back in the squad—for the Newcastle striker to just finish it off (49').

📸 Alexander Hassenstein - 2025 Getty Images

The second was also from the former Stuttgart player.

He received from Baku and finished past the keeper with great skill (69').

The win took the four-time world champions to 12 points in Group A.

The same tally as Slovakia, their rivals at the Red Bull Arena on Monday (17th).

A "simple" win will be enough to secure direct qualification to their 20th World Cup.

🇸🇰 Slovakia 1 x 0 Northern Ireland 🇬🇬

Facing a rival still with a chance, Slovakia had what was expected: more possession.

But it was the visitors who posed more danger in the first half.

Needing a win to fight for a direct World Cup spot, Slovakia came out stronger in the second half.

But they were frustrated by VAR.

Skriniar had a goal disallowed for offside. Strelec for a foul.

But persistence paid off in stoppage time.

Corner kick, poor decision by goalkeeper Peacock-Farrell, and a goal by Bobcek (91').

They now have the aforementioned 12 points, but still have an inferior goal difference and thus remain in second place.

They will only secure a direct spot if they beat Germany in Leipzig.

Northern Ireland remains at six points and is out of contention.

All the qualified teams 👇🏽

AFC - Asia

🇦🇺 Australia - 🇰🇷 South Korea - 🇮🇷 Iran - 🇯🇵 Japan - 🇯🇴 Jordan (debut) - 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan (debut) - 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia - 🇶🇦 Qatar

CAF - Africa

🇲🇦 Morocco - 🇹🇳 Tunisia - 🇩🇿 Algeria - 🇪🇬 Egypt - 🇬🇭 Ghana - 🇨🇻 Cape Verde (debut) - 🇿🇦 South Africa - 🇸🇳 Senegal - 🇨🇮 Ivory Coast

Concacaf - Central and North America

🇨🇦 Canada (host nation) - 🇺🇸 United States (host nation) - 🇲🇽 Mexico (host nation)

Conmebol - South America

🇦🇷 Argentina - 🇧🇷 Brazil - 🇨🇴 Colombia - 🇪🇨 Ecuador - 🇵🇾 Paraguay - 🇺🇾 Uruguay

Europe

🏴England - 🇫🇷 France - 🇭🇷 Croatia

OFC - Oceania

🇳🇿 New Zealand

Allocation of spots

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

📸 STRINGER - AFP or licensors