England, Scotland wait for poppy punishment
ENGLAND and Scotland face an uncertain wait to discover if they will face sanctions after proceeding with a contentious poppy tribute to Britain’s war dead in their Fifa World Cup qualifier.
The two teams, led by England captain Wayne Rooney and his Scotland counterpart Darren Fletcher, wore black armbands with red poppy motifs during Friday’s match at Wembley.
Football’s world governing body Fifa has warned the move could contravene rules banning “political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images”.
Gareth Southgate enhanced his chances of keeping the job and shortened the odds on Gordon Strachan losing his as England sank Scotland 3-0. In the third match of Southgate’s four-match stint as interim manager, headers by Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and Gary Cahill secured a victory that may land him the role full time.
Southgate stepped in after Sam Allardyce was forced out in the wake of a newspaper sting and had previously seen his side labour to victory over Malta before drawing 0-0 away to Slovenia.
“I will enjoy tonight [Friday]. I was asked to take the job for four games and to keep the country top of the group,” Southgate said when asked about his future.
“Tonight was important for the supporters and the team. It was important they came through a pressure game, especially at Wembley.”
Scotland’s defeat at Wembley, in the first competitive meeting between the teams in 17 years, left them six points adrift of Group F leaders England, for which Strachan could pay with his job.
It was Scotland’s second successive 3-0 defeat after last month’s loss in Slovakia and leaves them facing an uphill battle to qualify for a first major tournament since the 1998 France World Cup.
A second-half goal from winger James McClean fired Ireland to the top of World Cup qualifying Group D as his side scored a scrappy but glorious 1-0 victory over Austria in Vienna.
The win put the Irish top of the group on 10 points, three ahead of group rivals Serbia and five ahead of Wales, who met later last night in Cardiff. Austria are fourth with four points.
The Austrians dominated the opening exchanges but failed to create many clear-cut efforts on goal, with their best chance falling to Marcel Sabitzer, who hit the crossbar in the first half.
McClean, however, made no mistake just after the break when he slipped the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Ramazan Ozcan to give Ireland all three points and a first victory over Austria since 1963.
At Tbilisi, Georgia and Moldova drew 1-1.
At Zagreb, Croatia beat Euro championship giant-killers Iceland 2-0; and at Antalya, Turkey beat Kosovo 2-0.