Midday explosion in the sports world｜England advanced to the World Cup two rounds ahead of schedule, and Qatar "kicked" into the World Cup for the first time

Reposted from: Dazhong Newspaper·Qilu One Point

Qilu Evening News·Qilu One Point Huaixiao

In the early morning of October 15, in the 8th round of Group K of the European Group Stage of the World Cup Qualifiers, England defeated Latvia 5-0 in an away game. With this victory, England won all 6 games in the group stage, scoring 18 goals and conceding 0 goals, securing the top spot in the group two rounds in advance and successfully advancing to the World Cup finals.

On the same day, in the third round of Group A of the fourth stage of the World Cup preliminaries in Asia, Qatar defeated the United Arab Emirates 2:1. For the first time in history, Qatar won a ticket to the World Cup finals by relying on its own strength, creating history for the national team.

In the table tennis arena, the men's team semi-finals of the 2025 Asian Table Tennis Championships came to an end. The Chinese men's team experienced a five-set battle. In the desperate situation of falling behind 0:2 with a big score, it relied on tenacity to defeat the Japanese team 3:2 and advance to the final. The National Table Tennis Team will compete with the Hong Kong team of China for the championship.

World Cup Qualifying European Zone:

England defeated Latvia 5:0 and advanced to the World Cup two rounds ahead of schedule

In the early morning of October 15, in the 8th round of Group K of the World Cup European Group Stage, England defeated Latvia 5:0 away from home. With this victory, England won all 6 games in the group stage, scoring 18 goals and conceding 0 goals, securing the top spot in the group two rounds in advance and successfully advancing to the World Cup finals.

In the 26th minute, Gordon dribbled the ball in from the left side of the penalty area and scored with his right foot, 1:0. In the 44th minute, Kane took the ball at the top of the penalty area, got rid of the adjustment and scored a long shot with his left foot, 2:0.

In the 45th and 3rd minutes, England took a corner kick from the left into the penalty area. Kane was tripped by the opponent while trying to get a position. VAR intervened. After watching the video replay, the referee awarded England a penalty kick. Kane hit the penalty with his right foot, 3:0.

In the 58th minute, Spencer made a pass from the right. The ball was saved by the Latvian goalkeeper. Tongnisis accidentally blocked the ball into his own net, 4:0. In the 86th minute, Eze dribbled the ball into the left side of the penalty area, adjusted inside and volleyed into the net with his right foot, 5:0.

Currently, England leads second-ranked Albania by 7 points in Group K with 18 points, and there is no suspense about qualifying early.

This is the 17th time in the history of the England team that they have qualified for the World Cup finals. They have also become the first European team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Since 1998, England has participated in eight consecutive World Cups.

Looking back at England's performance in the World Cup, they first participated in the World Cup in 1950, won the World Cup for the first time in their home country in 1966, and finished fourth in both 1990 and 2018. At the last World Cup in Qatar, England lost 1:2 to France in the quarter-finals and stopped in the quarterfinals.

World Cup Qualifiers Asia:

Qatar defeated the United Arab Emirates 2:1 and secured a ticket to the World Cup.

In the early morning of October 15, in the third round of Group A of the fourth stage of the Asian World Cup Preliminaries, Qatar defeated the United Arab Emirates 2:1. For the first time in history, Qatar won a ticket to the World Cup finals with its own strength, creating the history of the national team.

In the 61st minute of the game, Akram Afif made a precise cross. Experienced defender Boualem Al-Houshi jumped high and scored a powerful header into the UAE goal, giving Qatar the lead.

Twelve minutes later, the home team expanded their results. The UAE goalkeeper made a fatal mistake and the return pass was intercepted. Miguel Pedro cleverly stole the ball and then shot into the empty goal, rewriting the score to 2:0.

Although the UAE scored a wonderful long-range shot from Sultan Adil in the 98th minute and pulled one back, it was too late and they were unable to make a comeback.

After this game, Qatar accumulated 4 points, beating its opponents by 1 point and temporarily ranking first in Group A. The UAE failed to seize the lead and unfortunately missed the opportunity to qualify for the World Cup again after nearly 30 years.

Qatar’s victory in this game is well-deserved. They played modern and efficient football: the defense was well organized and the counterattacks were quick and sharp. If not for forwards such as Afif and Almana who missed several good opportunities in the first half, the game could have been won earlier.

Qatar has also become another Asian representative, following other teams, to lock in a seat for the 2026 United States, Canada and Mexico World Cup. This marks a new chapter for Qatari football - they have advanced to the World Cup for the first time as a non-host nation with their outstanding performance in the qualifiers.

Qatar participated in the World Cup for the first time as the host in 2022, and was eliminated at the bottom of the group.

World Cup Qualifiers European Zone:

Portugal 2:2 Hungary, Cristiano Ronaldo crowned the historical top scorer in the World Cup Qualifiers

In the early morning of October 15, in the 8th round of Group F of the World Cup Qualifiers European Group Stage, Portugal drew 2:2 at home with Hungary, failing to secure a spot in the US, Canada and Mexico World Cup finals in advance. However, Ronaldo scored twice in this game and once again wrote a legend.

In the 9th minute of the game, Portugal suffered a blow. Hungarian player Atila Szolay took advantage of Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa's error and scored with a header to give the visiting team the lead.

In the 22nd minute, Ronaldo relied on his keen movement to receive Semedo's cross from the right and succeeded in a close shot to equalize the score.

In the 3rd minute of stoppage time in the first half, Ronaldo once again showed his veteran style. He cleverly grabbed the point, received Nuno Mendes' cross from the left, and shot from close range, leaving the opponent's goalkeeper unresponsive, helping Portugal lead 2:1.

With these two goals, Ronaldo officially became the player with the most goals in World Cup qualifying history with 41 goals, surpassing the previous record of 39 goals held by legendary Guatemalan forward Carlos Ruiz. Ranked third is Messi, who scored 36 goals in the qualifying rounds.

For Ronaldo, he still has the opportunity to continue to refresh his record. Portugal have two qualifying games remaining against Ireland and Armenia.

In addition, Ronaldo also maintains the record as the top scorer in the history of the national team. He scored 143 goals for the Portuguese team, far ahead of Messi's 114 goals. The Portuguese captain is still 52 goals away from reaching the 1,000-goal mark in his career.

In the second half, just when fans thought Portugal would take all three points and advance to the World Cup, Hungary scored from close range in the 92nd minute from Szoboszlai, setting the score at 2:2.

In the end, Portugal lost two points and missed the opportunity to lock in the US-Canada-Mexico World Cup tickets in advance. They currently lead the second place in the group by 5 points with the final two rounds of qualifying remaining.

WTA500 Ningbo Station:

Yuan Yue defeated Wang Xinyu 2:0 and advanced to the women's singles round

On the evening of October 14th, in the first round of the WTA500 Ningbo Station women's singles, in a Golden Flower Derby, Yuan Yue defeated Wang Xinyu in straight sets 6:3, 6:3, giving the latter a 5-game losing streak in singles. In the next round, Yuan Yue will compete with No. 4 seed Alexandrova for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Wang Xinyu started her domestic competition journey in China with full expectations, but failed to win a single match in the Billie Jean Gold Cup Finals, China Open and Wuhan Open. In addition, in the two WTA1000 level events in Beijing and Wuhan, she lost to players outside the top 90 in the world.

Wang Xinyu faces Yuan Yue this time. She has passed the first round at the China Open and Wuhan Open. Previously, the two had met twice on the tour, winning one game each, and both occurred last year. Wang Xinyu lost one set in the Rome Open and then came back to win, avenging her previous two-set loss to Yuan Yue in the Hobart Open.

In the first set, both sides broke serve to start the game. After that, Yuan Yue seized key points in the 5th and 9th games and broke Wang Xinyu's serve twice, thus winning the first set 6:3. Judging from the data, Wang Xinyu's unforced errors and grasp of opportunities at key nodes are slightly inferior.

In the second set, Yuan Yue started with a 4:0 advantage. After that, Yuan Yue's physical fitness and concentration declined, and Wang Xinyu chased three games in a row. However, in the 8th game, Wang Xinyu made a mistake in a key point. Yuan Yue broke and kept, and finally won another set 6:3, thus defeating Wang Xinyu in two sets and advancing to the top 16 of women's singles.

In addition, in the first round of women's doubles, Wang Xiyu/Xu Yifan lost to Melichar/Samsonova 3:6, 6:3, 7:10 and missed the chance to advance.

Table Tennis Team Asian Championship:

The Chinese men's team reversed the Japanese men's team 3:2 and will compete with the Hong Kong team of China for the championship.

In the early morning of October 15, the semi-finals of the men's team of the 2025 Asian Table Tennis Championships came to an end. The Chinese men's team experienced a five-set battle and fell behind 0:2. It relied on its tenacity to reverse the Japanese team 3:2 and advance to the finals, where it will compete with the Hong Kong team of China for the championship.

This Asian Championship will be held from October 11th to 15th. It is the first team competition after the team competition and the individual competition are held separately.

In the first set, Liang Jingkun encountered a powerful attack from Tomokazu Harimoto. Although Liang Jingkun once had the advantage in the decisive game, Zhang Benzhihe disrupted the rhythm with continuous baseline crossing balls, and finally lost 2:3.

In the second set, Wang Chuqin faced 18-year-old Matsushima Terukong. When the two met in the Macau Championship in September, Wang Chuqin defeated his opponent 3:1. In this game, Terukong Matsumoto controlled the rhythm with his varied serves and defeated Wang Chuqin 3:2, helping the Japanese team expand the score to 2:0, and the Chinese men's team was in dire straits.

The third set became a life-and-death line. Lin Shidong couldn't afford to lose anything against Shinozuka Daden. The two also fought to the final set, and Lin Shidong defeated his opponent 3:2 with difficulty.

In the fourth set, Wang Chuqin faced Tomokazu Harimoto in the No. 1 singles matchup. Wang Chuqin was not affected by the previous defeat and scored an 11:1 score in the second game. In the fourth game, he once led 8:5, but failed to seize the opportunity and was reversed by his opponent 15:13. In the crucial fifth game, Wang Chuqin fell behind 2:5 at the beginning. Fortunately, he finally withstood the pressure and reversed 11:8, dragging the game to the deciding set.

In the fifth set, Liang Jingkun played against Matsushima Terukong, but was still affected by his opponent's changeable serve. In the second game, Liang Jingkun came back from 6:10 behind to win 13:11, showing great momentum. In the end, the two fought to the decisive game, and Liang Jingkun won the game 11:3, helping the Chinese men's team complete a shocking 3:2 reversal.

Both the men's and women's team finals of the Asian Championships will be held tonight. The Chinese women's team will be the first to play against the Japanese team, and the Chinese men's team will compete with the Hong Kong, China, team for the championship.