Key events
Not wanting to spoil the party but it’s a still a big ask for the Republic of Ireland to qualify for the finals. To secure a play-off spot they need to secure victory over Hungary in Budapest on Sunday. Hungary stayed ahead of the Irish in Group F after Barnabás Varga headed home Dominik Szoboszlai’s cross to secure a 1-0 win in Armenia.
The last time Hungary took part in a World Cup play-off they lost 12-1 on aggregate to Yugoslovia in 1997. What?! 12-1!!
Which countries have qualified for the 2026 World Cup and how did they do it? Here’s a very handy ‘Explainer’ from Andy Martin. Twenty-nine of the 48 places have now been filled but some big names – Cameroon and Nigeria for example – will need to come through a playoff.
That red card for Ronaldo against the Republic of Ireland was his first in 226 appearances for Portugal. And the man himself certainly didn’t see it coming having come out with these famous last words before the match. “I really like the fans here. The support they give to their national team is lovely. For me, it’s a pleasure to come to play here again. I hope they don’t boo too much to me tomorrow. I swear that I’m gonna try to be a good boy.”
There could be some serious ramifications for Ronnie after his flailing arm on Dara O’Shea. The red means he’s automatically banned for Portugal’s home game against Armenia on Sunday. But if judged as “serious foul play” by Fifa, that suspension would double to two matches and if classed as “violent conduct” the ban would be extend to three.
That, of course, would mean Ronaldo missing one, or even two, of Portugal’s opening group games in the 2026 finals. I’m going to make a wild guess here… I don’t think that will happen.
Back to England v Serbia and some player ratings. We have a ‘9’ and a couple of ‘8s’. Press here to reveal Ed Aarons’ scores on the doors from Wembley.
Republic of Ireland 2-0 Portugal. While England winning 2-0 generated nothing much more than a shrug around the football world, another qualifier ending in that same scoreline raised lots of eyebrows. Fantastic stuff from the Irish as two goals from Troy Parrott secured a famous win in Dublin and kept their playoff hopes alive. And just for extra craic for the home fans filing out of the Aviva, Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off! More details here on the best sporting performance from a Parrott since John beat Jimmy White 18-11 in the final of the 1991 world snooker championship.
Good morning! Before the deep dive, let’s start with the bread and butter: David Hytner’s match report of England 2-0 Serbia.
“Too often, the final pass was missing. But what the manager did get was another win and another clean sheet. Count seven of each from seven qualifiers. The final one is against Albania in Tirana on Sunday. And, also, two lovely goals.”
Preamble
International breaks seem to go on for ages and we’re not even halfway through the latest one. Still, matters are being resolved and the picture of just who will be at next summer’s 2026 World Cup finals is becoming clearer.
England had already qualified ahead of last night’s 2-0 win over Serbia but that didn’t stop the forensic analysis of Thomas Tuchel’s latest selection and England’s Wembley performance.
We’ll bring you all the fallout from last night’s game and also a round-up of events elsewhere where it was quite the night for the Republic of Ireland. For Cristiano Ronaldo, not so much.
And beyond World Cup qualifying, there appears to have been a family feud in Spain involving eggs. More on that shortly.
Righty, let’s get this thing going!
