Moder helps Poland reach World Cup finals

Jakub Moder was the latest Albion player to help his country qualify for the World Cup, as Poland beat Sweden 2-0 in a tense play-off on Tuesday.

Second-half goals from Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zielinski secured victory, with Moder playing the full 90 minutes in Chorzów as Poland reached their second successive World Cup.

Moder will join Leandro Trossard and his Belgium side in Qatar this winter, with the Red Devils breezing through qualifying before beating Burkino Faso in a friendly in Brussels.

Trossard was the Player of the Match, setting up goals for Hans Vanaken and Christian Benteke either side of scoring his third international goal in a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Elsewhere in European friendlies, Shane Duffy watched on from the bench as Republic of Ireland left it late to beat Lithuania and Andi Zeqiri came on as a late substitute during Switzerland’s draw with Kosovo.

A host of Albion’s young talent were also in action across Europe, with Marc Leonard playing 90 minutes as Scotland under-21s drew with Kazakhstan, Kacper Kozlowski playing 81 minutes during Poland's stalemate against Hungary, Kjell Scherpen keeping a clean sheet as Netherlands u21 beat Switzerland and Andrew Moran opening the scoring during Republic of Ireland's 4-0 win over Armenia. Ed Turns was an unused substitute for Wales against Bulgaria.

In South American World Cup qualifying, Alexis Mac Allister, Jeremy Sarmiento and Moises Caicedo all shared the same pitch as Argentina travelled to Ecuador to play out a 1-1 draw at Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha.

World Cup qualification for both countries was already secured, with Ecuador sealing their spot in Qatar last Friday when other CONCACAF results went their way, but Enner Valencia’s 93^rdminute equaliser was still wildly celebrated by the home side.

Caicedo played the full 90 minutes, while Sarmiento came on in the 73^rd minute and Mac Allister played an hour.

Over in Asian World Cup qualifying, World Cup-bound Kaoru Mitoma and Japan drew 1-1 with Vietnam in Saitama.

Mitoma played the full 90 minutes, following his stunning late cameo against Australia in which he scored two late goals to send Japan to their seventh successive World Cup.

Yves Bissouma is one Albion played sadly not heading to the World Cup after his Mali side narrowly lost their third-round play-off against Tunisia in African World Cup qualifying.

The Eagles were 1-0 down on aggregate following last week’s first leg in Bamako, and failed to overturn that scoreline in Rades on Tuesday as it ended 0-0 on the night.

Bissouma remained on the bench in the first leg, before playing 75 minutes of the second leg.