Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane (x) England secured its place at the World Championship in 2026 commanding 5-0 victories over Latvia, while the qualification of Portugal was delayed after Tuesday’s draw with Hungary. The matches were marked by remarkable performances by Harry Kane and Cristian Ronald, while the pro-Palestinian demonstrations preceded Italy a key victory against Israel. England maintained its perfect record in the group K and secured its sixth consecutive victory in Riga. The victory gave them an unsurpassed seven -point lead at the top of the group with 18 points, which confirmed their qualifications for the World Championship with two games. Anthony Gordon launched scoring for England before Harry Kane scored two goals, including punishment to make it 3-0. Kane’s performance continued his impressive run, and this season this season for the club and country brought the total number of 21 goals. “It rarely comes to qualify for the World Championship, so the mood is very, very good,” said English manager Thomas Tuchel. The match ended with its own goal Maksims Tonisevs and the fifth goal of Ebechi Eze, who strengthened the dominant performance of England. In Group F, after a dramatic 2-2 draw with Hungary in Lisbon, the qualifying celebrations of Portugal were suspended. Hungary took the lead through the header Attila Szalai before Ronaldo equalized and later scored again, and expanded his international scoring record to 143 goals in 225 performances. Ronaldo’s performance also earned him a record for most goals in the World Cup qualifying with 41, which broke Guatemal’s previous Carlos Ruize 39 record. The Italian struggle against Israel in Udine was preceded by protests, while the pro-Palestinian demonstrators clashed with the police, while thousands of peacefully marched through the city. Demonstrations were caused by concerns about the match in the middle of the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. Azzurri ensured the victory of 3-0 in Group I accessories, with Mateo Retegui scored twice and Gianluca Mancini added a third. The victory ensures that Italy finishes at least second in the group and will cost them three points for the leaders of Norway and two games remain. Spain continued its strong qualifying campaign in Group E and beat Bulgaria 4-0 in Valladolid. Mikel Merino scored two headers and brought his qualifying sum to six goals in four games, while Atanas Chernev and Mikel Oyarzabala’s sentence completed his own goal. “We don’t have much further to get to the World Championship, but it’s not done yet … We have always won,” Merino said after the match. In other matches, Serbia exceeded the early failure to beat Andorra 3-1 and maintain one point behind Albania in the group K. Guillaume Lopez gave Anorre a lead with a remarkable goal from the center of the center circle. Turkey maintained pressure on Spain in Group E with a victory of 4-1 over Georgia and represented two goals by Merih Demiral and another score from Kenan Yildiz and Yunus Akgun. The European Qualification System guarantees direct qualification for the World Championship for all 12 group winners, while the runners are progressing on the playoffs. Estonia and Moldova drew 1-1 in their group, which I meet, while Ireland secured 1-0 victory against Armenia through Evan Ferguson’s header in the F. group.
