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MANCHESTER: Cristiano Ronaldo’s quest to play in a record sixth World Cup began in typical fashion with two goals as Portugal made a winning start to their qualifying campaign by routing Armenia 5-0.
Ronaldo’s goals extended his record as the highest scorer in men’s international football to 140 and underlined his enduring motivation to keep setting more benchmarks before his storied career comes to an end.
The 40-year-old soccer great has recently signed a new contract with ����ֱ��n club Al-Nassr and led Portugal to victory at the UEFA Nations League last summer. The World Cup is the one major trophy that eludes him — leaving him behind his great rival Lionel Messi, who lifted soccer’s biggest prize with Argentina in 2022.
Next year would likely be Ronaldo’s last chance to win it when the tournament is staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Like him, Messi would also be playing at a sixth World Cup — setting the pair apart from any other player, with a host of names having appeared in five.
Ronaldo — a five-time Champions League winner, who also lifted the European Championship trophy with his country — struck in each half at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium as Portugal made a flying start in Group F.
Joao Felix also scored twice and hit the opening goal after just 10 minutes. Joao Cancelo was also on target.
England maintained their 100 percent record in qualifying with a 2-0 win against Andorra at Villa Park.
Thomas Tuchel’s team are top of Group K with four straight wins after an own goal from Christian Garcia and a Declan Rice header.
Unconvincing England
While Ronaldo further gilded his record, Harry Kane was left frustrated as England failed to convince again under Tuchel.
A 1-0 win against Andorra in June was described by one British newspaper as England’s “worst ever.” It was then followed by a 3-1 home loss against Senegal in a friendly before the end of the season.
Tuchel made 10 changes to his squad and while there was an improvement, England still had to toil against the 174-ranked Andorrans.
It took Garcia to open the scoring when inadvertently glancing Noni Madueke’s inswinging cross into his own net in the 25th.
England created more chances after the break, with Andorra goalkeeper Iker Alvarez making two fine saves from close range to deny Eberechi Eze and Elliott Anderson.
Rice headed in at the far post in the 67th from Reece James’ cross.
England’s all-time leading scorer Kane could not extend his record, with his best chance coming when failing to connect with James’s first half cross with an open net to aim at.
Also in Group K, Serbia beat Latvia 1-0 to move up to second in the table.
England play Serbia on Tuesday.

BERLIN: Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann on Saturday pledged changes to his side for Sunday’s crunch World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland in Cologne after falling to a 2-0 defeat in Slovakia.
The Germans were thoroughly outclassed against Slovakia on Thursday, losing to the underdog side for the first time in their history.
The four-time World Cup winners had never previously lost a qualification match for the tournament.
A further disappointment against Northern Ireland would leave Nagelsmann’s men with little room for error in their bid to qualify directly for the World Cup.
Nagelsmann, 38, slammed his players’ attitude after the defeat on Thursday, saying they lacked emotion and were “miles away” from a good performance.
“We had five decent minutes. That’s not enough,” the coach said.
At full-time, captain Joshua Kimmich said “if we perform like we did today, we’ll definitely not qualify” for the World Cup.
On Saturday, Nagelsmann said: “There will certainly be some changes in terms of personnel. Not all 10 players will be rotated, but we have to put in a better performance than we did on Thursday.”
Germany have improved under Nagelsmann after a poor decade, with group stage exits at the Russia and Qatar World Cups bookending a last-16 Euros defeat to England in 2021.
Taking over in late 2023, Germany lost just one of 15 matches in 2024 — a quarter-final exit at the hands of eventual champions Spain at the European Championships.
This year, Germany have lost three and drawn one of their five games and risk an unthinkable failure to qualify for next year’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The coach said he had no fears about his future despite copping criticism in the German press, saying “it’s never good to be afraid.”
“I’m still brave enough and I want to win every game and we’ll try and do our best tomorrow,” he said.
“The team is important, not me, and I think we’ll do a better job tomorrow than on Thursday.”
Germany were given a rare bit of good news on Saturday, with forward Serge Gnabry cleared to play after picking up an arm injury against Slovakia.
The Germans are dealing with an injury crisis, particularly up front, with Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz, Tim Kleindienst and Niclas Fuellkrug all missing through injury.
On Thursday, Germany called up Borussia Dortmund forward Maximilian Beier to replace the injured Fuellkrug.