WC Qualifiers: Belgium, Portugal off to a winning start as France held

Belgium gets their World Cup qualifying campaign off to a winning start, after a 3-1 victory over Wales. They led 2-1 at the break, thanks to goals from De Bruyne and Hazard, after Wilson had fired Wales into an early lead. Lukaku then made sure of the win from the penalty spot on 73 minutes, after Mepham brought down Mertens in the box. Belgium than just saw the game out, holding off a Welsh resurgence.

Belgium sit second in Group E on goal difference, whilst Wales are fourth after this defeat. Next up for Belgium is a trip to the Czech Republic at the weekend, who beat Estonia 6-2 today. Meanwhile Wales have a friendly against Mexico to look forward to at the weekend.

In the other game, Portugal opened their World Cup qualifying campaign with a victory, but they have to settle for a 1-0 scoreline in Turin. Medvedev’s own goal was the difference in the end, but that was not due to Portugal’s lack of effort. Santos’ side had numerous chances in both halves to score, but Mahammadaliyev was able to keep the likes of Ruben Neves, Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Ronaldo and Fernandes at bay. Nuriyev missed Azerbaijan’s only big chance, but they will take pride from tonight’s scoreline.

Portugal could have shown more composure in the final third on occasions, but they cannot get too hung up on the scoreline. They got their qualifying campaign off to a winning start, and they need to regroup ahead of their trip to Serbia this weekend, while Azerbaijan face Qatar in a friendly.

Meanwhile, the world champions were held; France have to settle for a draw as Ukraine hold on. The hosts were far from their best and didn’t really threaten until Griezmann curled in a magnificent opener after 20 minutes, but they couldn’t build on their lead and were made to pay as Sydorchuk’s shot snuck in after a huge deflection off Kimpembe. Pogba, Dembele and Martial came on as Deschamps looked to switch things up but even with a slight change of shape, France finished the game with only three shots on target. Improvements needed.

Next up in the World Cup qualifiers, France have got two away fixtures. They play Kazakhstan on Sunday, then Bosnia and Herzegovina next Wednesday. Ukraine are at home for their two games against Finland and Kazakhstan.

Following are the results of Match Day 1 fixtures in the Europe Zone Qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, played on Wednesday:

Belgium 3-1 Wales

Turkey4-2 Netherlands

Portugal 1-0 Azerbaijan

Serbia 3-2 Republic of Ireland

Finland 2-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina

France 1-1 Ukraine

Estonia 2-6 Czech Republic

Gibraltar 0-3 Norway

Latvia 1-2 Montenegro

Cyprus 0-0 Slovakia

Malta 1-3 Russia

Slovenia 1-0 Croatia