PARIS: Cristiano Ronaldo helped an emotional Portugal enjoy a perfect start to their World Cup qualifying campaign as Thomas Tuchel’s uninspiring England remained unbeaten on Saturday.

Portugal, playing for the first time since the death of their Liverpool forward Diogo Jota along with his brother Andre Silva in a car accident, took an impressive first step to the finals next year sweeping aside Armenia 5-0 in Yerevan.

Both teams observed one minute’s silence before kick-off at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in tribute to Jota and his brother who were killed in a crash in northern Spain on July 3, 11 days after Jota had married Rute Cardoso, the mother of his three children.

Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo was in sparkling form, Portugal’s irrepressible 40-year-old talisman scoring in either half, the second a sizzling shot from distance, to take his record international tally to 140 goals, over two decades after his first.

A brace from Joao Felix, Ronaldo’s new team-mate at Saudi side Al Nassr, and a contribution from another Saudi-based player Joao Cancelo lifted Roberto Martinez’s Nations League winners top of Group ‘F’.

Portugal’s number 21 — Cancelo marked his goal by pointing to the skies with both hands in memory of Jota’s goal celebration.

Lazio left-back Nuno Tavares believed Ronaldo’s 21st-minute goal held special significance as 21 was the shirt number worn by Jota when playing for his country.

“We’re all very happy because it shows he’s (Jota) with us, that he was there, and that moment, Ronaldo’s goal, was made possible. He’ll always be with us, as was clear today,” said the defender.

Ronaldo said on social media it was the “first step taken” in his quest to appear at a sixth World Cup.

Portugal’s next opponents on Tuesday are Hungary, who despite playing the last 30 minutes a man down secured a 2-2 draw in Dublin against the Republic of Ireland.

Hungary were on their way to take all three points until Adam Idah’s equaliser in the third minute of added time for the hosts.

Meanwhile, England extended their unbeaten run in Group ‘K’ to four matches but hardly set the world alight in defeating modest Andorra 2-0 at Villa Park in Birmingham.

Christian Garcia’s first-half own-goal was followed by Declan Rice’s header to keep Tuchel’s team firmly on course for the 2026 football fiesta in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

But while the Three Lions will be more than satisfied with their 12 points this was in truth another underwhelming display that raised questions about Tuchel’s ability to produce a trophy-winning team from a gifted generation.

England were efficient but unspectacular, lacking guile and intelligence in the final third.

No wonder Tuchel wore a frustrated expression on the touchline.

Claiming the subdued crowd played a role in the display, the German said: “It’s difficult because it’s a very different crowd to a Premier League crowd.

“After the first goal we had 10 or 15 minutes with too many ball losses and lost our focus and concentration but in the second half, we found it again and should have scored more.”

The former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss will want a more purposeful performance in the toughest test of his reign on Tuesday when England face their main group rivals Serbia.

“We’ve learned a lot and I’m glad for the players. Now we will prove a point in Belgrade,” said Tuchel.

The Serbs sit second in the mini-league on seven points after edging Latvia 1-0 in Riga.

Saturday’s action concluded with Marcel Sabitzer’s 54th-minute penalty earning Austria a 1-0 home win over Cyprus, and Bosnia-Hercegovina routing San Marino 6-0 in Group ‘H’.

GOALS GALORE FOR ITALY

On Friday, Gennaro Gattuso enjoyed his start to life as Italy coach as his team beat Estonia 5-0 to get their World Cup qualifying campaign back on track.

His tenure started in style as second-half strikes by Moise Kean, Mateo Retegui — who netted twice — Giacomo Raspadori and Alessandro Bastoni fired Italy to three points and had fans chanting the coach’s name in Bergamo.

Italy are third in Group ‘I’ after three matches, six points behind leaders Norway who have played one game more, and boast a superior goal difference.

“We played well and it was all down to the way the boys have conducted themselves this week,” said Gattuso.

“We’ve worked hard and there’s been a good atmosphere around the squad.

“When you play as attacking as we did tonight against a better team you expose yourself to risks, but today we were up against a side that had a bit less than us so it was the right thing to do to be so attack-minded.”

MBAPPE’S FRANCE DOWN UKRAINE

Kylian Mbappe was back in World Cup action, scored again and this time France won.

France beat Ukraine 2-0 in neutral Poland to open their qualifying group for the 2026 World Cup. It was Les Bleus’ and Mbappe’s first game in the competition since his hat-trick in that epic loss to Argentina in the 2022 final when they were defending champions.

Mbappe used pace and skill to elude Ukraine defender Illia Zabarnyi in the 82nd minute to extend a lead earned in the 10th by Michael Olise, and navigate what looks the toughest of France’s six qualifying group games.

“We had a lot to lose so it’s very good to begin the qualifying campaign with this victory,” France coach Didier Deschamps told broadcaster TF1.

Also in the group, Iceland won at home to Azerbaijan 5-0 and next goes to Paris to play France on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Switzerland ended as a 4-0 winner over Kosovo and Greece beat Belarus 5-1 after highly touted 17-year-old Kostas Karetsas took less than three minutes to score in his World Cup qualifying debut.

Sweden was twice pegged back in a 2-2 draw at Slovenia — which levelled for the second time in the 90th — while leaving Liverpool’s new record new signing Alexander Isak on the bench after his delayed start to the season.

Croatia, a beaten finalist and semifinalist at the past two World Cups, won at the Faeroe Islands by just 1-0 for a third straight win. The group-leading Czech Republic won at Montenegro 2-0.

Denmark was held to 0-0 at home by Scotland in the group that Greece now leads.

In total, 16 European nations will qualify for the World Cup. The 12 group winners qualify directly; the four remaining berths are determined by play-offs involving the 12 group runners-up for the expanded 48-team finals.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2025