The 2026 World Cup qualifiers kicked off in South America, producing no real surprises in the first matches, while in Europe and Africa the focus was on the qualifiers for their respective continental championships and around the Caribbeans the CONCACAF Nations League matches took centre stage.
Alvaro Morata scored 3 times as Spain put Georgia to the sword 7-1 in Tbilisi and Portugal rattled 9 past their visitors from Luxembourg while the other high scorers, Sweden, who scored 5 times in Estonia, came unstuck on their return to Stockholm where they lost 3-1 to Austria. Hungary were 2-1 winners in Serbia while Armenia earned a 1-1 draw in Turkey and Albania achieved the same feat in the Czech Republic. Finland lost to a late Danish strike in Helsinki while there were 2-0 wins for North Macedonia in Malta and for Wales in Latvia.
Rwanda enjoyed a 1-1 draw with a last-minute goal at champions Senegal and Kevin Denkey scored twice as Togo came from 2 down to beat Cape Verde 3-2 with a late goal in Lomé while Madagascar and Tanzania held their hosts Angola and Algeria respectively to goalless draws.
Among matches played in the CONCACAF Nations League, Alex Rigobert scored 4 times as St Martin took their hosts Anguilla apart 6-0 and Belize were 2-0 winners at French Guiana who ended the match with 10 players.
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