World Cup

DUISBURG, Germany — North Macedonia scored an 85th-minute winner through Eljif Elmas to stun hosts Germany 2-1 in their World Cup Group J qualifier on Wednesday as the Balkan country celebrated their greatest international victory.

Elmas slotted in after the four-times world champions had controlled the game but struggled to create chances against the disciplined North Macedonians, ranked 65th in the world.

GERMANY LOSE TO NORTH MACEDONIA

The top two teams in UEFA World Cup Qualifying Group I will face off on Wednesday as Poland travels to Wembley to play Gareth Southgate's England. 

England opened up qualifying with an expectedly lopsided 5-0 victory over San Marino last week in which Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin bagged a brace. Southgate's side next took on Albania and came out victorious thanks to goals from captain Harry Kane and Mason Mount. Southgate has announced that Mount, who missed training ahead of the Poland game, should be fine to take part. 

LUXEMBOURG - Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first goal of the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign but then missed a sitter as the visitors came from behind to beat Luxembourg 3-1 on Tuesday.

The hosts went into the match full of confidence after winning 1-0 away to Ireland and took a shock lead against the European champions when Portuguese-born Gerson Rodrigues glanced in a header on the half-hour for his second goal in two games.

GOAL FOR LUXEMBOURG!!

After coming back from 2-0 down to earn a controversial draw against Portugal on Saturday, Dragan Stojković's Serbia defeated Azerbaijan on Tuesday thanks to a brace by Aleksandar Mitrović.

The Fulham man kept up his outstanding form for the international break and has now scored five goals in Serbia's three World Cup qualifiers.

Bayern Munich's Poland striker Robert Lewandowski has been ruled out for four weeks after suffering a sprained ligament in his right knee, the German champions said on Tuesday.

Lewandowski sustained the injury in Poland's World Cup qualifying win over Andorra on Sunday, ruling him out of their match against England on Wednesday, and had scans on Monday.

Waking up and looking at Tuesday’s schedule of international football, I couldn’t help but notice the final score of one match that had already finished out in Chiba, Japan. The Japan national team had put up two touchdowns — a fortnight of scoring — on Mongolia in World Cup qualifying. 

The 14-0 win isn’t the biggest in Japan’s history (15-0 over the Philippines in 1967), nor was it the biggest defeat in 190th-ranked Mongolia’s (15-0 to Uzbekistan in 1998). 

BELGRADE - A Cristiano Ronaldo goal not given in a dramatic World Cup qualifier between Serbia and Portugal would have stood if the two football associations had agreed before the game to use goal-line technology, UEFA said on Monday.

Portugal captain Ronaldo was left fuming and got booked for dissent after his stoppage-time effort in Saturday's Group A 2-2 draw at Serbia was cleared by Stefan Mitrović after the ball had crossed the line as shown by television replays.

Within the space of 10 first-half minutes, Slovenia found itself in a 2-0 hole on Saturday thanks to a brace from Russia's Artem Dzyuba. 

Atalanta's Josip Iličić pulled one back for Slovenia just a minute after Dzyuba's second goal of the day with his 11th international goal, a wonderful first-time strike from the edge of the 18-yard box. 

What a brilliant strike from Ilicic just now... pic.twitter.com/WcNIaxBvds

Zlatan Ibrahimović has turned a tearful return to the Swedish national team into a highly productive one. The AC Milan striker set up three of Sweden’s four goals in its two recent World Cup qualifiers. The first Zlatan assist vs Kosovo on Sunday was a stunning flying backheel pass to open the scoring in a 3-0 victory.