qualification
Haaland takes Norway to the World Cup – Portugal Gala in Italy
Norway’s super goalscorer scored a goal of his own in the qualifiers and secured his country’s participation in the World Cup for the first time in a long time. Portugal bought its World Cup tickets with a party without its stars.
Norway and Portugal have secured participation in next year’s World Cup. Double-goal scorer Erling Haaland’s Norway qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1998 after losing heavily 4-1 (0-1) in the second round in Italy; Squadra Azzurra must advance to the playoffs.
Portugal made things clear without the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo with a 9-1 win against Armenia in Group F and look forward to their seventh consecutive World Cup finals in 2026 in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Norway could even suffer a nine-goal defeat in Milan to win Group I. However, Haaland’s team, which previously performed convincingly in the qualifying round, had problems with the 2006 champions for 45 minutes. Despite a clear lead, Italy couldn’t get more than 1-0 thanks to Inter striker Pio Esposito (11th minute).
After the break, Norway were much better and were able to equalize through strong Leipzig professional Antonio Nusa (63′). Haaland finally turned things around with his 15th and 16th goals in qualifying (78/79). Jørgen Strand Larsen scored in stoppage time to make it 4-1 and make it an eighth win in an eighth game.
The Portugal national team qualified for the World Cup with a football festival. Roberto Martinez’s team beat Armenia 9:1 (5:1) and thus avoided a detour through the playoffs. Captain Ronaldo (40) is absent from Porto as he was sent off in the 2-0 defeat at Ireland on Thursday. Even so, the excitement was great. “We are at the World Cup. Let’s go Portugal,” he wrote on the X platform.
At the last minute, Ireland secured second place behind Portugal with a 3:2 (1:2) win against Hungary in Budapest and could therefore still hope for a place in the World Cup via the playoffs. Ireland’s hero was Troy Parrott, who scored all three of his team’s goals. He scored the winning goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Kane scored and scored – France won without Mbappé
Harry Kane fired Thomas Tuchel and an already qualified England team to an eighth win in their eighth qualifying match in Group K. The FC Bayern Munich star striker scored 77 and 78 goals in his 112th international match to secure a 2-0 (0-0) win over group runners-up and playoff participants Albania. This means that the Three Lions remained clean in the qualifying round with a goal difference of plus 22.
Vice world champions France won 3-1 (3-1) in Azerbaijan without rested superstar Kylian Mbappé. Coach Didier Deschamps’ team easily qualified for the World Cup in Group D with 16 out of 18 possible points. Ukraine secured its playoff ticket with a final score of 2-0 (0-0) in the duel for second place with Iceland.
32 of 48: These teams have already qualified
So far, 32 of the 48 teams have qualified for the 2026 World Cup. Automatically the three hosts, the US, Canada and Mexico are there. Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Uzbekistan made it into the Asian elimination.
From Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Senegal and South Africa have so far secured tickets. From Europe, England, France, Croatia and now Portugal and Norway will clearly take part. Defending champions Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay are from South America. New Zealand has purchased a ticket in Oceania.
dpa
