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Portugal qualified for the 2026 World Cup on Sunday with a 9-1 hammering of Armenia in Porto that included hat-tricks from both Bruno Fernandes and João Neves. The reigning Nations League champions were forced to wait to book an automatic spot after losing 2-0 to the Republic of Ireland on Thursday in a game where their captain Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off.
However, Roberto Martínez’s side needed no help from their all-time top scorer in a one-sided match that assured them top spot in Group F with 13 points, giving Ronaldo the opportunity to play at a record sixth World Cup.
“The most important thing was qualifying for the World Cup. For me, as I always say, the team always comes before the individual,” Neves told RTP after opening his account for Portugal. “I’m very happy to have scored my first goal for the national team, and my second and third as well. I’m happy to be able to share the pitch with great players and a great team.“
Portugal opened the scoring when defender Renato Veiga scored a close-range header in the seventh minute but they were stunned when Eduard Spertsyan converted a cross from Grant-Leon Ranos 11 minutes later. It was only Armenia’s third goal in the qualifying group having failed to score in their previous three games.
However, any hopes of an upset were quickly extinguished as Gonçalo Ramos restored Portugal’s lead while Neves added two goals before half-time, including a superb free-kick into the top corner. Fernandes then converted a penalty in first-half added time to make it 5-1 at the break.
The second half continued in the same pattern as Fernandes struck again soon after the restart after he was set up by Ramos. A flurry of substitutions followed but Portugal’s pressure never relented and when they earned another penalty, Fernandes completed his hat-trick.
Neves then added his third goal of the night with a composed finish after Portugal hit the post while, at the other end, goalkeeper Diogo Costa and the Portuguese defence comfortably kept Armenia at bay.
Francisco Conceição then added the icing on the cake with a long-range strike in added time as Portugal completed the rout.
“We have a young team and we are not ready to play against teams as powerful as Portugal. After games like this, we will be stronger in the future,” Armenia coach Yegishe Melikyan said. “We made mistakes that mentally broke our team and we were not expecting the errors that occurred for Portugal’s second and third goals. We aren’t yet mentally prepared for these sorts of games.” Ireland finished second in the group with 10 points to clinch a playoff berth after they beat Hungary 3-2 with a last-gasp goal in the sixth minute of added time.
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Later in the day, Ukraine host Iceland in Warsaw, needing a win to overtake their opponents for the guaranteed playoff spot in Group D. France, who clinched the section on Thursday, are away to Azerbaijan. England, the Group K winners, are away to Albania, the runners-up.
In the night matches, Norway will complete the formality of qualification by avoiding a nine-goal defeat away to Italy at San Siro. Elsewhere, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo meet in Morocco to decide which African team enters March’s intercontinental playoffs.
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This story will be updated
