One step to go

 

With a double fixture list of qualifiers in November remaining, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Qatar, England, Saudi Arabia, Ivory Coast and Senegal all booked their places in the 2026 World Cup.

Nigeria enjoyed a 4-0 home win with a hat-trick from Victor Osimhen against Benin to overtake them on goal difference and reach the second round while South Africa who had only managed a goalless draw at home to Zimbabwe 4 days earlier finished above them and qualified directly with a 3-0 win over Rwanda. The Zimbabweans ended their campaign with a loss to Lesotho in stoppage time in a game played in South Africa. Cameroon who were held to a goalless draw by their visitors from Angola reached round 2 behind Cape Verde while in other matches Zambia lost 1-0 in Tanzania, Kenya suffered the same outcome in Burundi and Guinea were 2-1 winners in Mozambique with Abdoul Karim Traore netting a double. Namibia were 3-1 losers in Liberia and Central African Republic scored in added-on time to win 3-2 in Chad while Sao Tome and Principe stunned Malawi 1-0 in Tunisia.

In Europe Albert Gudmundsson and Ruslan Malinovskyi scored twice for Iceland and Ukraine respectively, but it was Ukraine who prevailed 5-3 with 2 late goals in Reykjavik while Montenegro were humiliated 4-0 with a brace from Hanus Sorensen in the Faroe Islands who celebrated a 2-1 win against the Czechs a few days later and Sweden were shamed 1-0 at home to Kosovo. Albania triumphed 1-0 in Serbia while Austria were upset 1-0 in Romania and Northern Ireland put 2 past their visitors from Slovakia. North Macedonia returned home from Belgium with a goalless draw only to draw 1-1 with Kazakhstan while Belgium came from an early goal down in Wales to win 4-2 with 2 Kevin de Bruyne penalty conversion. Kenan Yildiz scored twice as Turkey battered Bulgaria 6-1 in Sofia while a goal for Hungary in stoppage time cancelled out a double from Christiano Ronaldo to make it 2-2 in Portugal and put the home crowd’s celebration on ice.

In CONCACAF Haiti won 3-0 in Nicaragua but lost 3-0 in Honduras while Jamaica were shocked 2-0 in Curacao and Suriname drew 1-1 in Panama who drew level in stoppage time.

In the Asian Cup qualifiers Turkmenistan suffered a shock 1-0 loss in Sri Lanka while Singapore enjoyed a 2-1 win in India and Bangladesh earned a 1-1 draw in Hong Kong. Teerasak Poeiphimai scored a hat-trick as Thailand smashed their Taiwanese hosts 6-1 and in a friendly match New Caledonia won 2-0 in Gibraltar.   

The final summer push

 

The World Cup qualifiers saw Uruguay, Colombia, Paraguay, Morocco and Tunisia through to the 2026 finals while several other teams strengthened their positions.

In Africa, Uganda put 4 past their visitors from Mozambique in the second half with a double from Rogers Mato while Angola lost to a single goal at home to Libya and Gambia gained a 3-1 victory in Kenya. Malawi, who defeated Namibia 2-1 in Botswana, could only draw 2-2 with Liberia on their return home with Ayouba Kosiah scoring both goals for the visitors while Guinea held their Algerian hosts to a goalless draw and one goal gave Benin a win against Zimbabwe in the Ivory Coast. Sierra Leone put 2 past Ethiopia in Liberia and one goal was enough to give Rwanda a win over Zimbabwe in South Africa while South Sudan held hosts Mauritania to a goalless draw. In North America, Guatemala were stunned 1-0 at home to El Salvador but earned a 1-1 draw in Panama while El Salvador lost 2-1 at home to Suriname and Costa Rica drew 1-1 in Nicaragua. Costa Rica took a 2-goal lead but needed a goal in stoppage time to earn a 3-3 draw after Duckens Nazon scored a hat-trick for their Haitian visitors. In South America Bolivia beat Brazil 1-0 to reach the play-offs as Venezuela were brushed aside 6-3 at home to Colombia for whom Luis Suarez netted 4 times.

I Europe Greece were embarrassed 3-0 by the travelling Danes while Sweden suffered a 2-0 loss in Kosovo who ended the match with 10 players and in a thrilling match Dor Perez scored twice for Israel and Moise Kean netted twice for the visiting Italians who ran out 5-4 winners. Slovakia celebrated a 2-0 home victory over Germany while Northern Ireland were 3-1 winners at 10-man Luxembourg and Poland drew 1-1 in the Netherlands. Mikel Merino scored a hat-trick as Spain ran riot 6-0 in Turkey and Israel cruised 4-0 past Moldova on their travels while the Czech Republic struck twice in Montenegro and England thumped 10-man Serbia 5-0 on their travels.