England beats Serbia 5-0; France and Portugal dodge upsets

Ronaldo scores Portugal’s second goal from the penalty spot

Kylian Mbappé got France out of trouble, Cristiano Ronaldo helped Portugal do the same with a record-equaling goal, and England finally got its Thomas Tuchel era into gear.

Three of Europe’s soccer powerhouses took big steps closer to the 2026 World Cup yesterday [Macau time], all while Erling Haaland scored five goals in an 11-1 win with fresh stitches in his face.

Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa and Marc Guehi all scored their first goals for England, which beat Serbia 5-0 for a win which could be a turning point in Tuchel’s tenure.

Despite Tuchel’s recent talk of being prepared to win ugly with long passing, this win was more about managing the game and shutting down Serbia, which had made England fight hard for a 1-0 win at Euro 2024. Harry Kane was crucial, finding space to score the opening goal with a header from Declan Rice’s corner.

The captain cemented England’s advantage late on with smart movement to get in behind the defense on a move that ended with a red card for Nikola Milenkovic, who denied a clear scoring chance by Kane. Guehi scored England’s fourth from the resulting free kick.

“The energy has been higher and the level has been higher,” Kane told BBC radio. “Serbia are a good team, and we made them look average tonight.”

England is seven points clear at the top of Group K from Albania, which beat Latvia 1-0. A win and two draws in its last three group games would be enough for Tuchel’s team to qualify for the World Cup.

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford didn’t have to make a save as Serbia didn’t manage a shot on target. England had 12.

“We were very strong,” Tuchel said. “I think it was teamwork in its purest form. We helped each other out, we had the right intensity in the right moments.”

France held on with 10 men to beat Iceland 2-1 after coming from behind thanks to a goal and assist from Mbappé.

France leads Group D after winning its first two games, with Iceland second. Oleksandr Zinchenko conceded a penalty for handball as third-place Ukraine’s chances of qualifying plunged in a 1-1 draw with Azerbaijan, which had fired ex-Portugal coach Fernando Santos following its 5-0 loss to Iceland last week.

Portugal’s Joao Cancelo scored the winning goal in the 86th to give Portugal a 3-2 victory over Hungary, its second win to start the qualifying campaign, after two goals from Barnabas Varga had given Hungary hope of an upset.

Ronaldo scored an earlier penalty to give Portugal a 2-1 lead. It was his 39th goal in World Cup qualifying, tying the record set by Guatemala’s Carlos Ruiz, and raised his overall international goals total to 141.

Also in Group F, Ireland’s hopes of a first World Cup appearance since 2002 took a heavy blow with a 2-1 loss to Armenia. JAMES ELLINGWORTH, MDT/AP