West Ham United’s Jarrod Bowen and El Hadji Malick Diouf enjoyed winning Tuesdays in 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying with England and Senegal respectively.
Bowen appeared as a substitute in England’s emphatic 5-0 victory in Serbia in European qualifying Group K in Belgrade.
Harry Kane, Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guéhi and Marcus Rashford all scored in an impressive win for Thomas Tuchel’s Three Lions, who are now in a very strong position to quality automatically for the finals in North America next summer.
Bowen replaced Madueke 14 minutes from full-time and was unfortunate not to register an assist when Ollie Watkins was flagged offside after netting from the Hammer’s cross.
England are now seven points clear at the top of Group K and need five more from their remaining three qualifiers to clinch top spot.
Diouf’s Senegal went top of African qualifying Group B with a potentially vital 3-2 win at Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s DR Congo.
Senegal leapfrogged DR Congo and are now two points clear with two games to play after Papa Gueye, Nicolas Jackson and Pape Matar Sarr found the net in Kinshasa. Diouf started at left-back for Senegal, while Wan-Bissaka won his second cap for DR Congo.
Should Senegal defeat South Sudan away and Mauritania at home in October, they will top Group B and qualify automatically, but defeat in either game could allow DR Congo to snatch top spot. The runners-up could go into the second round of qualifying.
Elsewhere, Academy of Football teenager Gabriel Caliste started for Mauritius in a 3-1 Group D defeat in Angola, earning his fifth senior cap. Mauritius have already been eliminated from contention for next year’s World Cup.
In South America, Lucas Paquetá started as Brazil suffered a 1-0 defeat at altitude in Bolivia, where Miguel Terceros's first-half penalty was the difference between the sides.
Brazil have qualified automatically for the World Cup, but finished fifth in the CONMEBOL table behind Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia and Uruguay, and ahead of Paraguay. Bolivia's win saw them finish seventh reach the Inter-confederation play-offs.
It was a rollercoaster evening for Mateus Fernandes, who was sent-off for two bookable offences in Portugal U21s’ 2-0 UEFA European U21 Championship qualifying Group B win over Scotland in Motherwell.
Portugal’s victory means they are top of their six-nation group. Should they finish there, they will qualify automatically for the 2027 finals in Albania and Serbia.
Currently on loan at Northampton Town, centre-back Michael Forbes captained Northern Ireland U21s in a 1-1 draw in Georgia in their opening Group F tie. Northern Ireland sit third in their group behind Greece and Germany, who won their opening-round matches.
