PARIS: England sent out a warning to their World Cup rivals with a brilliant 5-0 thrashing of Serbia in qualifying to finally get the Thomas Tuchel era into gear on Tuesday, while Erling Haaland scored five with fresh stitches in his face as Norway routed Moldova 11-1 to emphatically maintain their 100-percent record.

Elsewhere, Kylian Mbappe got France out of trouble and Cristiano Ronaldo helped Portugal do the same with a record-equalling goal as the two European football powerhouses made it back-to-back wins to open their bids to reach next year’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The quality of Tuchel’s England was questioned after a laborious 2-0 win over Andorra at Villa Park on Saturday, but they produced a resounding answer.

Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa and Marc Guehi all scored their first goals for England in a win which could be a turning point in Tuchel’s tenure.

“We were very strong,” Tuchel told ITV. “I think it was teamwork in its purest form. We helped each other out, we had the right intensity in the right moments. The credit goes to the players, they did amazing. That’s the bar.”

Despite Tuchel’s recent talk of being prepared to win ugly with long passing, this win was more about managing the game and shutting down Serbia, who had made England fight hard for a 1-0 win at Euro 2024.

Harry Kane was crucial, finding space to score the opening goal in the 33rd minute with a header from Declan Rice’s corner for his 74th international goal in Belgrade.

The visitors doubled their advantage two minutes later, as Madueke raced onto an excellent flick-on from Morgan Rogers, kept his composure and dinked the ball beyond Serbia goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

Seven minutes into the second half, Konsa pounced on a loose ball after a free-kick to score his first international goal.

Another Rice set-piece provided England’s fourth, as Guehi slid to meet his free-kick, given for the foul on Kane by Nikola Milenkovic which earned the Nottingham Forest centre-back a straight red card.

Substitute Marcus Rashford rounded off a perfect night for his team with a late spot-kick.

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford didn’t have to make a save as Serbia didn’t manage a shot on target. England had 12.

“The energy has been higher and the level has been higher,” Kane told BBC radio. “Serbia are a good team, and we made them look average tonight.”

England are seven points clear at the top of Group ‘K’ from Albania, who edged out Latvia 1-0 in Tirana. A win and two draws in their last three group games would be enough for Tuchel’s team to qualify for the World Cup.

FRANCE, PORTUGAL DODGE UPSETS

Iceland made a dream start at the Parc des Princes as Arni Gudjohnsen, son of former Chelsea striker Eidur and playing alongside younger brother Daniel, put the away team ahead against France in the 21st minute after Michael Olise gave away the ball in his own penalty area.

Mbappe finally got France into the game when he converted a penalty just before halftime after being shoved by Mikael Anderson.

He then turned provider as Didier Deschamps’ men moved in front, racing onto Aurelien Tchouameni’s ball over the top before squaring for Bradley Barcola to tap into an empty net.

Les Bleus clung on for a 2-1 success despite Tchouameni’s sending off for a reckless lunging tackle and a late effort from Arni Gudjohnsen that was disallowed by VAR.

“We were punished for our only mistake. We created lots of chances but we are capable of doing better,” said Deschamps.

France, World Cup runners-up in 2022, sit three points clear of Iceland in Group ‘D’, with Ukraine and Azerbaijan two points further adrift after playing out a 1-1 draw in Baku.

Midfielder Georgiy Sudakov, who said this week his family home in Kyiv had been damaged by a Russian drone attack, put the visitors ahead when he swept home a low shot in the 51st minute.

But a handball from Oleksandr Zinchenko opened the door and Emin Mahmudov converted with 18 minutes remaining as both sides took their first point of the campaign.

Portugal clinched a 3-2 win over Hungary at the Puskas Arena, backing up their opening Group ‘F’ victory, 5-0 against Armenia last week.

Barnabas Varga gave the home side the lead before Bernardo Silva’s leveller for Portugal.

Ronaldo netted a record-extending 141st international goal with a spot-kick just before the hour. It was his 39th goal in World Cup qualifying, tying the record set by Guatemala’s Carlos Ruiz.

Varga thought he had grabbed a point for Hungary, only for Joao Cancelo to snatch all three for Portugal with four minutes left.

“I loved the attitude and focus -- we just needed to control the game and take it where we wanted,” said Portugal coach Roberto Martinez.

Hungary slipped to third in the standings behind Armenia who beat Ireland 2-1.

STITCHED-UP HAALAND STARS

Haaland was in unstoppable form in Oslo, leading the way in a thoroughly one-sided Group ‘I’ clash that made it five wins from five for Norway.

Playing with stitches in his face following an accident with a bus door, Haaland had his fifth international hat-trick by half-time, netting three times between the 11th and 43rd minute, before nodding in his fourth goal not long after the restart.

Martin Odegaard grabbed a goal and two assists. Felix Myhre found the net early on after being picked out by Haaland.

Rangers midfielder Thelo Aasgaard came off the bench to add a seventh, although Moldova did grab themselves a consolation with a Leo Ostigard own goal, only for Aasgaard to score again.

Haaland stepped aside when Norway were awarded a penalty shortly afterwards, allowing the 23-year-old Aasgaard to complete an 11-minute hat-trick. There were further goals as Haaland stretched his remarkable scoring record to 48 in 45 caps and Aasgaard scored his fourth.

Norway, who downed four-time world champions Italy earlier in qualifying and are bidding to qualify for a first World Cup since 1998, moved six points clear of the Azzurri having played a game more.

Konrad Laimer and Marcel Sabitzer scored to lift Austria to a 2-1 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina which brings them closer to a first World Cup qualification since 1998. Austria are level with Bosnia-Herzegovina on 12 points in Group ‘H’ but have an extra game to play. Cyprus and Romania drew 2-2.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2025