In the qualifying stage of the 2026 World Championship, Hungary hosted Ireland and Portugal hosted Armenia in the first match today.
Idman.Biz reports that the Portuguese national team did not have much trouble opening the score in the game. Veiga opened the scoring in the 7th minute of the game.
Armenia's equalizing goal came from Spertsyan in the 18th minute. But the Portuguese national team made them regret equalizing the score. Although, head coach Roberto Martinez said in his pre-match statement that they respected the opponent.
In the 28th minute, Ramos increased the difference between the scores – 2:1. Then came the goals. Bruno Neves and Fernandes scored a hat-trick in the Portuguese squad. Neves scored in the 30th, 41st and 81st minutes, and Fernandes in the 45+3, 52nd and 70th minutes. Consesau put the final point in the game: 9:1.
With this score, the Portuguese national team finished the qualifying stage in 1st place and qualified for the World Championship.
In the Hungary-Ireland game, 5 goals were scored. The game ended with a score of 2:3.
Lucas opened the scoring in the 3rd minute of the game from the Hungarian team. Parrot scored the equalizing goal for the Irish in the 15th minute. Near the end of the first half - in the 37th minute, Hungary took the lead again with Varga's goal. In the 81st minute, the Irish national team equalized the score with a goal by Troy Parrot. The final score of the game was determined by Parrot's hat-trick.
The Irish team advanced to the WC-2026 play-off stage with a goal scored in the 90+6th minute.