England and Portugal on Tuesday both scored five goals while France scored three as they overcame lowly-ranked Kosovo, Andorra and Lithuania respectively in Euro 2020 qualifying.
Captain Cristiano Ronaldo, making his 160th international appearance, scored four as Portugal won 5-1 in Vilnius and strengthened their position in Group B after a sluggish start.
For Ronaldo it was a second hat-trick in three internationals. The victory over Lithuania, 130th in the world rankings, brought Portugal five points behind Ukraine at the top of Group B.
Photo: AP
Portugal, who opened the group with home draws against Ukraine and Serbia, started their recovery with a victory in Belgrade on Saturday last week. They have a game in hand on all the other teams in the group.
“We were better, we are better and we won because of it,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos said. “We kept the pace after the win at Serbia, otherwise this triumph would make no sense, and we are closer.”
Ronaldo’s first goal was a penalty.
The second, with the scores level after an hour, was a scuffed low shot from outside the penalty area that took a couple of strange bounces off the artificial turf before it was parried into the air by a diving Ernestas Setkus. The dropping ball hit the back of the goalie’s head before rolling in.
The third was a clinical volley from close range.
The fourth was a low shot into the corner.
Vytautas Andriuskevicius scored the hosts’ only goal before William Carvalho added a fifth for the reigning champions at the end.
Serbia beat Luxembourg 3-1, as Aleksandar Mitrovic netted twice, to solidify their grasp on third place in the group. They are a point behind Portugal.
In Southampton, England, Gareth Southgate’s England side trailed early on to Kosovo, ranked 120th in the world, when Valon Berisha scored after 34 seconds.
England replied with a first-half goal binge that ended with Jadon Sancho scoring twice to make it 5-1 at the break.
The visitors claimed two back in the second half, including a second for SS Lazio midfielder Berisha, but the 5-3 victory put England three points clear in Group A, ahead of the second-placed Czech Republic, who beat Montenegro 3-0.
“A bizarre game,” Southgate said. “The outstanding parts of our play were obvious. The errors were obvious.”
In Paris, the world champions made light work of beating 136th-ranked Andorra 3-0. It was Les Bleus’ 100th match at the Stade de France.
Antoine Griezmann missed a penalty for his country for the second match running, but Kinglsey Coman, Clement Lenglet, with his first international goal, and Wissam Ben Yedder clinched three points.
“It is really annoying. I’ll just need to keep working. You can’t be on top of your game all the time,” Griezmann said.
Coman also scored two against Albania on Saturday.
“It has been a very good week. It has gone well personally and collectively,” Coman told TV station TF1.
Cenk Tosun scored twice as Turkey beat Moldova with ease in a 4-0 victory in Chisinau.
However, Iceland, who had been level with the top two, suffered a blow as they lost 4-2 in Albania. That result meant Iceland dropped three points behind.
It also changed the tiebreak, allowing Turkey to take first place from France.
Brazil has four teams, more than any other country, in the expanded Club World Cup that kicked off yesterday in the US, but for SE Palmeiras, the competition holds a special meaning: winning it would provide some redemption. Under coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, Palmeiras lifted two Copa Libertadores titles, plus Brazilian league, cup and state championships. Even before Ferreira, it boasted another South American crown and 11 league titles. The only major trophy missing is a world champions’ title. Other Brazilian clubs like Fluminense FC and Botafogo FR, also in the tournament, have never won it either, but the problem for Palmeiras
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS