Tottenham World Cup qualification roundup

Tottenham’s finest spent this international break trying, succeeding and sometimes failing to help their countries qualify for next summer’s World Cup in Russia.

Unsurprisingly, England benefit the most from Tottenham’s largess, and we’ve covered the Three Lions’ successful campaign thoroughly over the last week.

Harry Kane scored two goals, one in each match, to earn England six points that locked them in atop Group F.

Eric Dier and Dele Alli both earned a start each, with Alli missing out on Thursday’s match against Slovenia thanks to a suspension and Dier being rested for the largely symbolic final win over Lithuania on Sunday.

England coach Gareth Southgate saw fit to grant a second callup to Spurs’ right-back Kieran Trippier. The 27-year-old former Burnley man played on Sunday, and ever-so-slightly undercut Kyle Walker’s grip on the starting position.

Finally, Southgate handed a full debut to Tottenham Academy graduate Harry Winks, who excelled in Sunday’s 1-0 win. With England’s squad surprisingly deep, it might not be that Winks joins his Spurs teammates on the flight to Russia next summer — but anything is possible.

The country next best stocked by Tottenham is, of course, Belgium. Both Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen featured for Roberto Martínez’s side over the week, but Mousa Dembélé remained sidelined with the same injury that’s kept him out of Mauricio Pochettino’s lineups in recent weeks.

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Belgium was the first nation in Europe to qualify for the World Cup, but that didn’t mean these two matches against Bosnia Herzegovina and Cyprus were devoid of excitement.

Vertonghen played his 96th and 97th matches in the Red Devils’ colors, making him the most capped player in all of Belgium’s footballing history.

To celebrate the occasion, Vertonghen scored a goal against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday then proudly wore the captain’s armband for the match against Cyprus.

The 30-year-old often gets overshadowed by his countryman Alderweireld at Tottenham — sometimes unjustly — but there is no denying the massive influence he’s had over both club and country. If he doesn’t go down at one of the best centre-backs of his generation, then there might just not be any justice in the world.

Elsewhere on the Continent, Hugo Lloris saw his France side top their group and thus earn an automatic spot in Russia. Tottenham’s goalkeeper will likely retain his armband for a World Cup push in which France are arguably one of the favorites.

They will, of course, face competition from the likes of Brazil and Germany, but it would be difficult to argue that there is a national team more stocked with talent than France’s. As a senior statesman, Lloris will preside over a team that likely includes Benjamin Mendy, Paul Pogba, Ousmane Dembélé, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé — among others.

Christian Eriksen stared for Denmark — again — as they successfully got themselves seeded to compete in the play-offs. The draw for that final round of matches will take place Tuesday, October 17th.

Outside of Europe, things are not entirely resolved.

Heung-min Son will likely feature as the star man for South Korea after they finished second to Iran in their Asian Football Confederation group.

The newest fixture in Tottenham’s defense, Davinson Sánchez, will feature for Colombia as they take on Peru on Tuesday evening. Depending on results elsewhere — particularly in the heated match between Argentina and Ecuador — he might just qualify for his first World Cup.

Serge Aurier and the Ivory Coast still have one match left to play in November. Morocco will hope to fend off the the Elephants in that match in order to keep hold of their position atop the group.

Next: Harry Winks makes England debut

Some Spurs players weren’t quite so lucky. Ben Davies and Wales saw their dream of qualifying for their first World Cup since 1958 end with a 1-0 loss to Ireland on Monday. Meanwhile, Victor Wanyama’s Kenya didn’t even progress to the final round of qualifying in the Confederation of African Football.

Should all go to plan otherwise though, these results will leave Tottenham with the honor of contributing upward of 14 players to next summer’s World Cup.