New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) Portugal punched their ticket to FIFA World Cup 26 with a comprehensive 9- victory over Armenia in Porto, despite the absence of captain Cristiano Ronaldo who was forced to sit out the clash through suspension after his red card in the recent defeat by Ireland.

Bruno Fernandes and Joao Neves each scored hat-tricks to propel Portugal past Armenia and to World Cup qualification.

The goals came at a steady rate, beginning with Renato Veiga’s header off a parry from goalkeeper Henri Avagyan. Armenia equalised when Eduard Spertsian connected with Grant-Leon Ranos’ cross, but Portugal regained the lead for good on a swoop and score from Ramos following an Armenian mistake.

Moments later Fernandes set up a thumping finish for Neves, who added a second on a perfectly struck free-kick. Fernandes got into the scoring swing with his hat-trick, sandwiching two penalty conversions around a right-footed finish.

Portugal’s celebratory day was then rounded out by Neves’ third and a last-second strike from Francisco Conceicao.

Meanwhile, goal-machine Erling Haaland added two more to his tally as Norway extended their perfect record with a 4-1 victory over Italy in Milan, ensuring they returned to the global showpiece for the first time since 1998, with the Azzurri having to settle for a play-off place.

Norway completed their World Cup return with a perfect qualification record after coming from behind to defeat Italy in Milan.

Needing to win by an improbable nine clear goals, Gennaro Gattuso’s side grabbed an early opener when Federico Dimarco found Pio Esposito to score with a neat spin and strike to give faint hope to the home fans at a packed San Siro.

After a strangely subdued first half, Stale Solbakken’s side were much improved after the interval with Antonio Nusa’s fizzing left-foot strike from outside the box levelling the scores.

Oscar Bobb then set up Erling Haaland for a fine volley to put Norway in front, and the seemingly unstoppable striker grabbing his second soon after, to equal Robert Lewandowski’s record of 16 goals in a qualification campaign, set ahead of Russia 2018. Jorgen Strand Larsen added gloss in added time.

Second place in Group F and a berth in the play-offs was snatched in the most dramatic fashion by Ireland, who twice trailed in Hungary but scored the winner deep into added time to silence the home fans in Budapest.

The runners-up spot in Group D was grabbed by Ukraine thanks to two late goals against Iceland, while France, England, Serbia and Israel ended their campaigns with victories over Azerbaijan, Albania, Latvia and Moldova, respectively.

Elsewhere, England captain Harry Kane added two more to his international tally as the Three Lions completed a perfect qualification campaign with victory over play-off bound Albania.

–IANS

bc/