A few Blues faced each other this evening as Wales hosted Norway in Group C. The Norwegians came away with all three points by winning 1-0. This result means Norway have qualified for the European championships in 2022.

Blues midfielder Sophie Ingle captained Wales, while Maren Mjelde [pictured top] marked her 150th international appearance and skippered Norway. She played at centre-back alongside Maria Thorisdottir and Guro Reiten was out on the left wing, but made way after 65 minutes.

Wales were disciplined and defended extremely well for an hour but Frida Manuum of Linkopings latched onto a defensive error and netted with a fierce finish from 20 yards out to put Norway ahead. In the final 20 minutes Jayne Ludlow’s Wales dominated the game and had opportunities to level the scoring, but were unable to make them count and Norway held onto their slender lead.

With one group match remaining for Wales, there is still hope of qualifying for this major tournament despite it now being out of their hands. They next host Belarus on Tuesday 1 December. Norway still have two matches to fulfil despite qualifying. At the end of November they welcome the Faroe Islands and their postponed match versus Belarus needs to be played.

The Scots returned to their European qualification campaign Friday night, with nearly a year passing since their previous Group E fixture. They hosted Albania at Tynecastle Park and came away with three points after comfortably winning 3-0.

Erin Cuthbert played the full 90 minutes in attacking midfield. Although Scotland were in total control of the match, and had many chances to go ahead, it took them until the 37th minute to break the deadlock. Manchester City’s Caroline Weir delivered a free-kick into the box for Scotland for skipper Rachel Corsie to direct in with her head. The second goal came midway through the second half when Cuthbert teed up Weir on the edge of the box and her shot took a deflection on its way in. Player of the match Weir got her second of the night in added time through a spot-kick following a high challenge.

In their game tonight, Cuthbert and Scotland were defeated for the first time in their qualification campaign, losing 1-0 against Finland in Helsinki. Despite the Scots dominating the first half and having chances throughout, a goal at the start of the second was enough to secure victory for the hosts.

Scotland will travel to Portugal at the end of November before playing Finland in the return match on Tuesday 1 December

Pernille Harder captained Denmark to an important 3-1 victory against a strong Italy side in Group B. The Danes have now sealed a place in the European championships following nine wins out of nine. They will entertain second place Italy at the beginning of December for their final Group B match.

Sweden have also booked a place in the finals, joining Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and hosts England. The Swedes’ qualification news came after a 2-0 triumph against fellow Nordic country Iceland. Chelsea’s captain Magdalena Eriksson played at centre-back while Jonna Andersson was stationed at left-back.

England Women’s friendly versus Germany, which was due to take place this afternoon, was cancelled on Sunday due to a positive COVID-19 test result for a member of the Lionesses’ backroom staff.

Melanie Leupolz and Ann-Katrin Berger’s Germany also qualified for the Euros last week with two matches remaining. They take on Greece on Friday 27 November and then travel to Republic of Ireland four days later.

The Blues’ next game is on Tuesday 3 November against Tottenham Hotspur in the Continental League Cup. The home match kicks off at 7pm and can be watched live via The 5th Stand app, the Chelsea website, Chelsea FC Women’s Facebook page and our official YouTube channel.