World Cup qualifiers: Belgium and Spain avalanche, Germany trembles for a time

Belgium and Spain avalanche, Germany with a few too many headaches, Slovakia at the last gasp. There aren&#8217t too many surprises in Sunday night&#8217s results among the matches played in Europe and valid for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. However, some of them have more throbbing goings-on than others, and there is no shortage of goals from Serie A stars.

Standout among them is Kevin De Bruyne, a major player in Belgium’s 6-0 thrashing of Kazakhstan. In fact, the Napoli midfielder netted a brace, just like Doku. Raskin and Meunier scored the other goals. The same result, but away, is Spain’s: in this case, losing 6-0 to Turkey, overwhelmed by Merino’s hat-trick and Pedri’s double.

The Spanish team’s goal was the same.

Tremendous for a time Germany: Gnabry’s lead was answered by Price for Northern Ireland, in the second half Amiri and Wirtz signed the final 3-1. The Netherlands won 3-2 in Lithuania, Georgia (3-0 to Bulgaria, Kvaratskhelia also in goal) and Poland (3-1 over Finland) won without suffering, while Slovakia prevailed only in the final minutes in Luxembourg.

GROUP A

GERMANY-NORTHERN IRELAND 3-1 (7′ Gnabry; 34′ Price; 69′ Amiri, 73′ Wirtz);
LUXEMBOURG-SLOVAKIA 0-1 (90′ Rigo);
Standings: Slovakia 6 points, Northern Ireland and Germany 3, Luxembourg 0.

GROUP E

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GEORGIA-BULGARIA 3-0 (30′ Kvaratskhelia, 44′ Gagnidze, 65′ Mikautadze);
TURKEY-SPAIN 0-6 (6′ and 62′ Pedri, 22′, 45+1′ and 57′ Mikel Merino, 53′ Ferrán Torres);
Classification: Spain 6 points, Georgia and Turkey 3, Bulgaria 0.

GROUP G

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POLAND-FINLAND 3-1 (27′ Cash, 45+2 Lewandowski, 55′ Kaminski; 88′ Kallman);
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LITHUANIA-LAND 2-3 (11′ and 63′ Depay, 33′ Timber; 36′ Gineitis, 43′ Girdvainis);
Standings: Netherlands and Poland 10 points, Finland 7, Lithuania 3, Malta 2.

GROUP J

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MACEDONIA-LIECHTENSTEIN 5-0 (15′ Elmas, 52′ Bardhi, 56′ Churlinov, 82′ Qamili, 90′ Stankovski);
BELGIUM-KAZAKISTAN 6-0 (42′ and 84′ De Bruyne, 44′ and 60′ Doku, 51′ Raskin, 87′ Meunier);
Classification: Macedonia 11 points, Belgium and Wales 10, Kazakhstan 3, Liechtenstein 0.