Denmark Qualify For 2022 World Cup, England Frustrated By Hungary

Denmark became the second team to qualify for the 2022 World Cup finals when they beat Austria 1-0 on Tuesday courtesy of a Joakim Maehle goal.

Maehle scored in the 53rd minute to send the Danes to Qatar as they build on their surprise run at Euro 2020 this summer when they reached the semi-finals.

"You can only dream about things like this. It’s crazy.

"This is huge for me, it’s huge for the team, for Danish football and for Denmark. With the age and quality we have, we will only keep growing," said Denmark midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

The victory means that Denmark have not lost or conceded a goal in the eight matches that they have played, scoring 27 times in the process.

The Danes join Germany, who qualified on Monday, in the finals. Host nation Qatar qualify automatically.

England sputtered as a combative Hungarian side held them to a 1-1 draw with the match marred by ugly scenes at Wembley as Hungarian supporters clashed with stewards and police.

Gareth Southgate’s side fell behind to Roland Sallai’s disputed first-half penalty before John Stones stuck out a boot to score the equaliser in the 37th minute from Phil Foden’s cross.

Harry Kane failed to score in a qualifier for the first time in 16 games and was substituted as Hungary’s resolute defence kept a disjointed England side at bay.

England defender Tyrone Mings called for harsher punishments for racism in football after it emerged the trouble at Wembley had flared after police had moved in to arrest a Hungarian supporter for what police called a “racially aggravated public order offence”.

"Every time we speak on racial abuse the punishments that follow never seem in line with what has happened.

"I sincerely hope that if that is the case, the punishments fall in line with what happened this time," Mings stated.

England will be sure of reaching next year’s finals if they take four points from their final qualifiers against Albania and San Marino in November.

Poland are second behind England in Group I after a stormy win in Albania.

Play was halted and the teams left the pitch as fans threw bottles after Karol Swiderski scored the winning goal in the 77th minute. The teams later returned to complete the game.

Sweden stayed two points ahead of Spain in Group B thanks to a 2-0 win against Greece.

Scotland got a desperately-needed 1-0 win over the Faroe Islands, meaning they need one more victory from their last two games to secure a playoff spot as they seek to reach a World Cup finals for the first time since 1998.

Lyndon Dykes scored for the Scots for the fourth game running, as he connected untidily with a Nathan Patterson cross to finally break the resistance of the minnows.

Switzerland stayed in contention for Qatar when they eased to a 4-0 win in Lithuania with Breel Embolo scoring twice.

The Swiss are equal with Italy on 14 points in Group C, but second on goal difference.

Ukraine were held to a goalless draw by Bosnia-Herzegovina and lie second in World Cup holders France’s Group D, just a point ahead of Finland.

Teemu Pukki scored twice as the Finns beat Kazakhstan 2-0 to become his country’s all-time leading international goalscorer with 33 goals, overtaking Jari Litmanen.