Croatia, Denmark qualify for Nations League quarterfinals with draws

MADRID (AP) — Denmark and Croatia completed the Nations League quarterfinals lineup after both sides secured draws on Monday.

Denmark went 0-0 in Serbia, and Croatia came from behind to share 1-1 with visiting Portugal.

They joined France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands in the last eight.

The quarterfinals will be held from March 20-23.

In Warsaw, Liverpool fullback Andy Robertson scored an injury time header to give Scotland a 2-1 win over Poland and send the host down into League B. Scotland has a playoff to secure its League A status.

Northern Ireland will step up to League B after topping its group. Northern Ireland let slip a two-goal lead but drew in Luxembourg 2-2. Romania hammered Cyprus 4-1.

San Marino will jump into Group C after beating Lichtenstein 3-1.

After going nine matches without a win, Scotland appeared rejuvenated as it condemned a Robert Lewandowski-less Poland to League B.

Scotland took just one point from its first four games in Group A1 but beat Croatia at home on Friday and was 1-0 up after three minutes in Warsaw.

Billy Gilmour’s threaded pass found Ben Doak, who rolled the ball to John McGinn to score his second goal in four days.

Scotland hit the woodwork twice in the first half and its inability to open a greater lead almost cost it when Kamil Piątkowski lashed a stunning strike into the top corner of the net to equalize 14 minutes into the second period.

However, Scotland pushed forward for a winner and Robertson headed the decider in the third minute of stoppage time.

Croatia needed only a draw to secure qualification but it made the home fans in Split sweat before getting the point it needed against group winner Portugal.

With 32 minutes gone, João Felix brought down a superb 45-yard pass from Vitinha and slipped the ball under the advancing keeper to give the visitors the lead. When Andrej Kramarić hit the post and Josko Gvardiol had a 62nd minute goal ruled out for offside it looked like it might not be Croatia’s night.

Bu Manchester City’s Gvardiol got the equalizer just a few minutes later and Croatia held on to take the second quarterfinal spot from Group A1.

There was little to play for in Tenerife, where Spain, top of Group A4, took on the already relegated Switzerland.

Coach Luis de la Fuente offered a first start to Barcelona midfielder Marc Casadó and gave debuts to Samu and Aitor Paredes in a much-changed Spain side.

But it was the two Bryans, Gil and Zaragoza, who got the goals that mattered for the European champions.

Pedri’s first half penalty was saved but Yeremi Pino converted to put Spain ahead.

Joel Monteiro equalized for Switzerland after 63 minutes but Bryan Gil got Spain back in front five minutes later. Andi Zeqiri equalized again from the penalty spot with five minutes remaining but a stoppage time penalty from Bryan Zaragoza at the other end gave Spain all three points.

In Leskovac, Serbia controlled most of the game against Denmark but could not get the goal it needed to progress from Group A4. Dušan Vlahović was in fine form for the home side but the Danes held out to take second spot, eight points behind winner Spain but two ahead of the Serbs, for which Strahinja Pavlović was sent off near the end.

Northern Ireland finished on top of Group C3 even though it blew a 2-0 lead in Luxembourg.

Isaac Price opened the scoring after 19 minutes and the Standard Liege midfielder set up Conor Bradley for the second five minutes into the second half. The opener was Northern Ireland’s 100th under coach Michael O’Neill.

However, even though the home side scored twice in the last 18 minutes, Northern Ireland ended its campaign with 11 points, two ahead of Bulgaria, which drew at home with Belarus 1-1. Luxembourg finished last.

Romania finished on top of Group C2 with a 4-1 win over Cyprus. Daniel Bîrligea put Romania ahead after two minutes and Răzvan Marin scored twice before Florinel Coman made it four.

Ioannis Pittas got Cyprus’ goal and the Cypriots' Konstantinos Laifis was sent off 13 minutes from time.

Kosovo beat Lithuania 1-0 with an early goal from Muharrem Jashari, who was also sent off on the stroke of halftime.

Kosovo finished second, three points behind Romania, but an asterisk remains over the final placings following the abandonment of Friday’s match between the teams in Bucharest.

The Kosovo players alleged they were victims of pro-Serbian chants by the home fans and walked off the field in the final minute. UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings.

San Marino will go into Group C at the expense of Gibraltar after beating Lichtenstein 3-1. Gibraltar started the day in pole position with six points but San Marino recovered from being 1-0 down at halftime to score three times in the second half.

Victory also lifted San Marino within reach of a place in the World Cup qualifying playoffs.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Spain's Zaragoza celebrates scoring his side's third goal during a Nations League soccer match between Spain and Switzerland, at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium in Tenerife, Spain, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Angel Fernandez)

Spain's Yeremy Pino, left, celebrates with Niko Williams the opening goal during a Nations League soccer match between Spain and Switzerland, at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium in Tenerife, Spain, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Angel Fernandez)

Scotland's Andy Robertson, right, celebrates with his teammates after scoring the second goal during the Nations League soccer match between Poland and Scotland at Narodowy stadium in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Scotland's John McGinn, center, celebrates with his teammates after scoring the opening goal during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between Poland and Scotland at Narodowy stadium in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Spain's Yeremy Pino celebrates with Niko Williams the opening goal during a Nations League soccer match between Spain and Switzerland, at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium in Tenerife, Spain, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Angel Fernandez)

Portugal's Joao Felix scores his side's first goal during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between Croatia and Portugal at Poljud stadium in Split, Croatia, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Scotland's Andy Robertson reacts during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between Poland and Scotland at Narodowy stadium in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Portugal's Joao Felix celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between Croatia and Portugal at Poljud stadium in Split, Croatia, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Spain's Yeremy Pino celebrates next to Niko Williams the opening goal during a Nations League soccer match between Spain and Switzerland, at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium in Tenerife, Spain, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Angel Fernandez)

Switzerland's Granit Xhaka reacts during a Nations League soccer match between Spain and Switzerland, at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium in Tenerife, Spain, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Angel Fernandez)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Becky Pepper-Jackson finished third in the discus throw in West Virginia last year though she was in just her first year of high school. Now a 15-year-old sophomore, Pepper-Jackson is aware that her upcoming season could be her last.

West Virginia has banned transgender girls like Pepper-Jackson from competing in girls and women's sports, and is among the more than two dozen states with similar laws. Though the West Virginia law has been blocked by lower courts, the outcome could be different at the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, which has allowed multiple restrictions on transgender people to be enforced in the past year.

The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday in two cases over whether the sports bans violate the Constitution or the landmark federal law known as Title IX that prohibits sex discrimination in education. The second case comes from Idaho, where college student Lindsay Hecox challenged that state's law.

Decisions are expected by early summer.

President Donald Trump's Republican administration has targeted transgender Americans from the first day of his second term, including ousting transgender people from the military and declaring that gender is immutable and determined at birth.

Pepper-Jackson has become the face of the nationwide battle over the participation of transgender girls in athletics that has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans have leveraged the issue as a fight for athletic fairness for women and girls.

“I think it’s something that needs to be done,” Pepper-Jackson said in an interview with The Associated Press that was conducted over Zoom. “It’s something I’m here to do because ... this is important to me. I know it’s important to other people. So, like, I’m here for it.”

She sat alongside her mother, Heather Jackson, on a sofa in their home just outside Bridgeport, a rural West Virginia community about 40 miles southwest of Morgantown, to talk about a legal fight that began when she was a middle schooler who finished near the back of the pack in cross-country races.

Pepper-Jackson has grown into a competitive discus and shot put thrower. In addition to the bronze medal in the discus, she finished eighth among shot putters.

She attributes her success to hard work, practicing at school and in her backyard, and lifting weights. Pepper-Jackson has been taking puberty-blocking medication and has publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade, though the Supreme Court's decision in June upholding state bans on gender-affirming medical treatment for minors has forced her to go out of state for care.

Her very improvement as an athlete has been cited as a reason she should not be allowed to compete against girls.

“There are immutable physical and biological characteristic differences between men and women that make men bigger, stronger, and faster than women. And if we allow biological males to play sports against biological females, those differences will erode the ability and the places for women in these sports which we have fought so hard for over the last 50 years,” West Virginia's attorney general, JB McCuskey, said in an AP interview. McCuskey said he is not aware of any other transgender athlete in the state who has competed or is trying to compete in girls or women’s sports.

Despite the small numbers of transgender athletes, the issue has taken on outsize importance. The NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women's sports after Trump signed an executive order aimed at barring their participation.

The public generally is supportive of the limits. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to only compete on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.

About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people age 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

Those allied with the administration on the issue paint it in broader terms than just sports, pointing to state laws, Trump administration policies and court rulings against transgender people.

"I think there are cultural, political, legal headwinds all supporting this notion that it’s just a lie that a man can be a woman," said John Bursch, a lawyer with the conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom that has led the legal campaign against transgender people. “And if we want a society that respects women and girls, then we need to come to terms with that truth. And the sooner that we do that, the better it will be for women everywhere, whether that be in high school sports teams, high school locker rooms and showers, abused women’s shelters, women’s prisons.”

But Heather Jackson offered different terms to describe the effort to keep her daughter off West Virginia's playing fields.

“Hatred. It’s nothing but hatred,” she said. "This community is the community du jour. We have a long history of isolating marginalized parts of the community.”

Pepper-Jackson has seen some of the uglier side of the debate on display, including when a competitor wore a T-shirt at the championship meet that said, “Men Don't Belong in Women's Sports.”

“I wish these people would educate themselves. Just so they would know that I’m just there to have a good time. That’s it. But it just, it hurts sometimes, like, it gets to me sometimes, but I try to brush it off,” she said.

One schoolmate, identified as A.C. in court papers, said Pepper-Jackson has herself used graphic language in sexually bullying her teammates.

Asked whether she said any of what is alleged, Pepper-Jackson said, “I did not. And the school ruled that there was no evidence to prove that it was true.”

The legal fight will turn on whether the Constitution's equal protection clause or the Title IX anti-discrimination law protects transgender people.

The court ruled in 2020 that workplace discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination, but refused to extend the logic of that decision to the case over health care for transgender minors.

The court has been deluged by dueling legal briefs from Republican- and Democratic-led states, members of Congress, athletes, doctors, scientists and scholars.

The outcome also could influence separate legal efforts seeking to bar transgender athletes in states that have continued to allow them to compete.

If Pepper-Jackson is forced to stop competing, she said she will still be able to lift weights and continue playing trumpet in the school concert and jazz bands.

“It will hurt a lot, and I know it will, but that’s what I’ll have to do,” she said.

Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Becky Pepper-Jackson poses for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The Supreme Court stands is Washington, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - Protestors hold signs during a rally at the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on March 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Jackson, file)