Big boys deliver blowouts while Dutch take nosedive
Belgium, Portugal each win 6-0
GENEVA
— The fastest goal in World Cup history capped a night of 6-0 routs and the Netherlands’ further fall in European qualifying on Monday.
Seven seconds ticked by when Belgium forward Christian Benteke’s shot finished his surging run through the Gibraltar defence.
Benteke beat the 8.3 seconds FIFA timed Davide Gualtieri taking to score for San Marino against England in 1993, and set the tone for the visiting Belgians’ 6-0 win.
Portugal also won 6-0 but needed only a single, excellent goal from Cristiano Ronaldo to dominate the Faeroe Islands.
Instead, 20-year-old Andre Silva stepped up with a first-half hat trick in just his fourth international match — perhaps finally pairing Ronaldo with a true penalty-area predator for the freshly crowned European champion.
Dutch decline has been steep since it followed runner-up and third-place finishes at the last two World Cups with failure to qualify for an expanded Euro 2016.
A 1-0 loss at home to France was the latest setback, sealed by Paul Pogba’s powerful shot from 30 metres in the first half.
Belgium and France top their groups, while Portugal trails Switzerland, which won its third straight qualifier, 2-1 at lowly Andorra.
Only the nine European group winners advance directly to play in Russia and four runners-up will qualify through a playoff round.
Here is what happened Monday:
Group A
France lived up to its billing as favourite in the group thanks to Pogba’s goal and a late save by Hugo Lloris.
Sweden continued to show it can play without retired superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, going level with France on seven points by beating Bulgaria 3-0.
The Dutch have four points and, despite drawing 1-1 in Sweden last month, are already playing catch up.
Also, Belarus took the lead in the 80th and Luxembourg equalized five minutes later in a 1-1 draw.
Group B
Portugal’s second 6-0 win inside four days was not enough to top the group but points to a bright future.
Switzerland was less impressive in edging to a 2-1 win over Andorra, which had not scored in World Cup qualifying since September 2009.
Switzerland has nine points, three points clear of Portugal. Hungary is third, with four points, after winning 2-0 in Latvia.
Group H
Belgium needed only a World Cup-record seven seconds to prove the gap between No. 2 in the FIFA rankings and Gibraltar, which is dead last.
Benteke scored two more, one a wonderful backheel, to lead Belgium to match its biggest away victory.
The other scorers were Mertens, Eden Hazard and Axel Witsel against a team playing its first World Cup qualifying campaign after gaining FIFA membership in May.
Belgium has a perfect nine points atop the group. Greece is the main challenger after it won 2-0 at Estonia to stay perfect through three matches. Also, Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Cyprus 2-0.
“It is a terrific moment for Belgian football,” coach Roberto Martinez said. “It showed the focus we had.”