**Germany** forward Nick Woltemade scored twice in the second half to give the four-time world champions a hard-earned 2-0 win over **Luxembourg** in their penultimate 2026 World Cup qualifier on Friday, leaving them on the brink of automatic qualification.
Woltemade, who has now scored his team's last three goals after also netting the winner in their 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland last month, put the visitors in front in the 49th minute with the Germans surprisingly on the backfoot for much of the first half.
The Newcastle United striker added another in the 69th to keep Germany top of Group A on 12 points, with Slovakia, their next opponents on Monday, in second place on goal difference.
* **[Northern Ireland suffer late defeat in Slovakia](https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2025/1114/1544012-northern-ireland-suffer-late-defeat-in-slovakia/)**
Julian Nagelsmann's team lacked any real punch up front in the first half while littering the pitch with defensive errors that allowed Luxembourg to carve out several scoring chances.
Germany, however, will now punch their ticket for next year's World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States, with a win or a draw in Monday's final qualifier against the Slovaks.
The group winners earn automatic qualification while the second-placed team goes into playoffs in March.
The **Netherlands** kept up their three-point advantage over **Poland** in Group G as the two sides drew 1-1, leaving the Dutch a point away from qualification.
Jakub Kaminski handed Poland a half-time lead as they needed victory to keep alive slim hopes of topping their group and securing automatic qualification.
Dutch record goalscorer Memphis Depay weighed in with another crucial goal for his country
Memphis Depay replied for the visitors at Stadion Narodowy shortly after the break to ensure the Dutch moved to 17 points with Poland second in the group standings on 14.
The Netherlands need only draw at home to bottom-placed Lithuania in their last fixture in Amsterdam on Monday to book their World Cup berth
**Croatia** completed a 3-1 comeback win over the **Faroe Islands** at home, securing their place at the tournament.
With Croatia on 19 points, second-placed Czech Republic can no longer catch them in Group L, as they sit on 13 points with one match left to play against Gibraltar on Monday.
For the visitors, ranked 127th by FIFA, the campaign ends with an impressive 12 points and a genuine fight for the top two places.
The Faroe Islands stunned the crowd after 16 minutes when Geza David Turi burst forward from midfield and hit a low strike that deflected off Luka Vuskovic to give the visitors the lead.
Seven minutes later, Croatia were level as the ball broke kindly for Josko Gvardiol in the box, who drilled a powerful strike into the bottom right corner.
Croatia went ahead in the 57th minute as an unmarked Petar Musa guided a low cross into the net. Nikola Vlasic settled the contest in the 70th minute with a composed finish.
**Watch Hungary v Republic of Ireland in World Cup qualifying on Sunday from 1pm on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1**