London, Sept 11: 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 football powerhouses took big steps closer to the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday, 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 defence 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.
Iceland took a surprise lead when Michael Olise gave away the ball in his own penalty area and Andri Gudjohnsen pounced on it to score. Mbappé finally got France into the game when he converted a penalty just before halftime after being shoved by Mikael Anderson.
Mbappé led a break for the second goal and set up Bradley Barcola to score in the 62nd but France’s task got harder when Aurélien Tchouaméni was sent off soon after for a reckless lunging tackle.
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.