Image: Sky Sports
The Republic of Ireland along with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have been given a major helping hand in the race for a play off position for the 2018 World Cup this evening after Belgium did them all a favour by beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 4-3 this evening.
The result now means at least three of the four teams will be guaranteed a play off place at the expense of the Bosnians on Monday night providing Greece also drop points against Cyprus later tonight.
As it stands Northern Ireland will definitely be in the play offs as the result means they cannot finish in 9th place in the best runners up table.
However for the Republic of Ireland to book their place in the play offs they must beat Wales in Cardiff on Monday night to give them a finishing total of 19 points.
That total minus the accumulated total against the bottom placed team (Moldova) in the group would leave them on 13 points, two more than the Bosnians who would have a final total of 11 if they managed to beat Estonia in their final game.
The same scenario will apply to the Welsh if they beat Ireland on Monday although they would have a point more finishing on 14 to the Bosnians 11.
Meanwhile the result is also good news for Scotland who will also guarantee a play off if they beat Slovenia on Sunday as they will finish on 14 points after the deduction following the final round of fixtures.