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. 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.

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 while Israel cruised 4-0 past Moldova on their travels and the Czech Republic struck twice in Montenegro.

Summer Action

 

Portugal upset Germany 2-1 in Munich before claiming the European League of Nations with a win on penalties over Spain in the same arena.

In World Cup qualifiers in Asia, 10 Iranians lost 1-0 in Qatar while South Korea scored twice in Iraq and Palestine enjoyed the same result in Kuwait. Ali Olwan scored all 3 goals for Jordan in Oman and Saudi Arabia put 2 past their Bahraini host while in the Asian Cup qualifiers, East Timor triumphed 1-0 over Maldives in Australia and Singapore returned from Bangladesh with a 2-1 victory while Yemen held Lebanon to a goalless draw in Kuwait. Malaysia struck 4 times after the break to send Vietnam home with their tails between their legs while Iraq stunned their Jordanian hosts with a single goal and Laos celebrated a 2-1 home win over Nepal. There were 3-1 home wins for Sri Lanka against Taiwan and for Turkmenistan over Thailand while Israel achieved the same result in a European World Cup qualifier in Estonia.

In the COCACAF section of the World Cup qualifiers Haiti were humiliated 5-1 by Curacao in Aruba and Cuba were shocked 2-1 in front of their home fans by Bermuda while Jamaica who had only managed one goal away to British Virgin Islands put 3 past Guatemala on their return with Warner Brown netting a brace. An early goal gave Montserrat a win over Belize in Trinidad & Tobago while in South America Colombia earned a 1-1 draw at 10-man Argentina and with both teams reduced to 10 players Chile lost 2-0 in Bolivia.

In the Gold Cup Guatemala defeated Jamaica 1-0 to finish above them in their group and progress to the next round where they won a penalty shootout against Canada who had been pegged back to a 1-1 draw against Curacao in a group match. Honduras also reached the semis after beating Panama on Penalties, but the final was contested between Mexico and the United States, with The Mexicans winning the Gold Cup with a 2-1 victory over their hosts.

In a friendly match Senegal came from behind to inflict an embarrassing 3-1 defeat on England in Nottingham.