Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 37th and 38th goals in the World Cup preliminaries to move one behind record holder Carlos Ruiz as Portugal thumped Armenia in their opening UEFA qualifier for the FIFA World Cup 26™. Elsewhere, Austria, England and Serbia continued their perfect starts to proceedings, while Serbia also won against Latvia. The game of the day came in Dublin, as Republic of Ireland came from two down to draw with ten-player Hungary.
Group F
Portugal goals: Joao Felix (10 & 61), Cristiano Ronaldo (21 & 46), Joao Cancelo (32)
Cristiano Ronaldo took his record international goals tally to 140 as Portugal began their campaign in fine fashion against Armenia. His Al Nassr team-mate, Joao Felix, opened the scoring with a thumping header. Ronaldo then doubled the lead with a tap-in, before Joao Cancelo rattled in a third. The Portugal skipper added his second less than a minute into the second half with a long-range piledriver, with Felix on hand to round off the scoring with a superb improvised finish.
Republic of Ireland goals: Evan Ferguson (49), Adam Idah (90+3)
Hungary goals: Barnabas Varga (2), Roland Sallai (15)
The Republic of Ireland rallied from two down to salvage a draw with Hungary in Dublin in their opening qualifier. Nervy early defending from the Irish set up Hungary’s first, with Barnabas Varga taking advantage of a lapse and firing in. It was soon two to the visitors, as an outswinging corner from Dominik Szoboslai was met by Roland Sallai, who spun a header into goal.
Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side found a response early in the second stanza, cutting the deficit when the Hungary defence failed to clear a free-kick and Evan Ferguson pounced from a few yards out. They were boosted further just minutes later when Sallai received a straight red card. Ryan Manning looked set to pull the Irish level, only for Denes Dibusz to make a stretch save to preserve a lead. The home side never gave up though and their efforts were handsomely rewarded with a stoppage-time equaliser, as Adam Idah headed in a Manning cross for a share of the spoils.
Group H
Austria goal: Marcel Sabitzer pen (54)
A Marcel Sabitzer penalty proved enough for Austria to defeat Cyprus and continue their 100-per-cent start to qualifying. The islanders played well in the first half and almost took the lead when Ioannis Pittas struck a post. Their good work was undone less than ten minutes into the second, though, as Christos Sielis trod on Christoph Baumgartner in the box. Sabitzer stepped up to slot home the winner from the spot, which keeps Austria within touching reach of Bosnia and Herzegovina in first. Cyprus, for their part, remain fourth.
Bosnia and Herzegovina goals: Benjamin Tahirovic (21), Edin Dzeko (70 & 72), Samed Bazdar (81), Kerim-Sam Alajbegovic (85), Nihad Mujakic (90)
Bosnia and Herzegovina made it a perfect four wins from four matches with a commanding victory over San Marino in Serravalle. What was already a very tall task for San Marino became even more difficult when their captain Alessandro Golinucci was sent off a quarter-hour in after tackling Kerim-Sam Alajbegovic from behind.
Bosnia and Herzegovina wasted little time and opened the scoring through Benjamin Tahirovic’s right-footed shot from outside the area. San Marino did well to get to intermission down just a goal, but the second half was a different story, with Edin Dzeko striking twice through a tap-in and a strong right-footed finish. A sloppy back pass from the San Marino defence then allowed Samed Bazdar to score the fourth before the 17-year-old Alajbegovic and Nihad Mujakic completed the night with late goals.
Group K
England goals: Christian Garica own goal (25), Declan Rice (67)
Thomas Tuchel continued his 100-per-cent record in competitive outings as England boss with a routine win over Andorra. It was one-way traffic in the first half, and the visitors’ resolve was broken when Noni Madueke’s cross was diverted in by the unfortunate Christian Garcia. The Three Lions eventually roared home to victory, as Declan Rice nodded in a fine Reece James cross. They extend their lead over Serbia at the summit to five points, as Andorra remain rooted to the bottom.
Serbia goal: Dusan Vlahovic (12)
Dusan Vlahovic netted his first national-team goal on foreign soil since 2023 to sink Latvia in Group K. The Juventus man found the net in the 12th minute, playing a nice one-two with Aleksandar Katai and firing his effort into the bottom corner. Latvia remained resolute from there and very nearly levelled it in added time, as Renars Varslavans struck the base of the post and Serbia managed to scramble away the loose ball. The Eagles move into second ahead of their visit of England, while Latvia remain second from bottom.
What they said…
“It’s the first game of the campaign. You can’t go through in the first game, but you can certainly go out of it. We’re still in it, go to Armenia now and try to get the three points there. Four points from the first games in September is a positive and we can push on from there.”
Caoimhin Kelleher, Republic of Ireland goalkeeper
“There are no small nations, we really had to work hard today. It wasn’t our best game, we know that. We showed mentality, pushed hard and got the three points. I always feel good about penalties, I had to take responsibility and I did that.”
Marcel Sabitzer, Austria goalscorer
“I think we missed the little moments to accelerate the game. Maybe Ebz [Eberechi Eze] didn’t have his best day in the number 10, the last pass from Noni [Madueke] wasn’t clinical enough and [Marcus] Rashford had good moments but couldn’t finish them. It’s stuff that can happen against a narrow team. The second goal should have come earlier because it gave us a lot of freedom. We’ve learned a lot and I’m glad for the players. Now we will prove a point in Belgrade [against Serbia].”
Thomas Tuchel, England coach
“It’s early on in the season, so we haven’t had so many games to find rhythm. But it was a win, starting in the right direction and it was a positive reaction from losing to Senegal.”
Reece James, England defender
“The points are important, the victory is important, and I think that the boys have stuck to the plan as we agreed to be patient, to simply try to break through. In the end I think that the victory was fully deserved. It could have been by a two or three-goal margin, but that changes absolutely nothing as far as the points are concerned.”
Dragan Stojkovic, Serbia coach
How qualifying works
The first round will follow a familiar format, with 12 groups of four or five teams, and the section winners securing World Cup slots. The continent’s four remaining berths will then be settled in a 16-team UEFA play-off competition involving the 12 group runners-up and four best-ranked UEFA Nations League section winners.
