Israel goalkeeper Daniel Peretz twice denied the Manchester City forward from the penalty spot in the opening five minutes, saving initially and then stopping again when a retake was ordered for encroachment. But the hosts did not have to wait long to take the lead, as Israeli midfielder Anan Khalaili headed into his own net from an Alexander Sorloth cross. Haaland, Norway's record scorer, doubled his side's advantage with a neat right-footed finish. It was the 10th game in a row for club and country in which he has scored - Haaland has found the net in all but one of his 12 appearances for City and Norway this season. The hosts then scored a comedic third one minute later when Peretz's clearance rebounded into his own net off defender Idan Nachmias. Haaland claimed his second with a towering header, before completing his treble by nodding in Antonio Nusa's cross at the back post in the 72nd minute. The 25-year-old has now scored 51 goals in 46 international appearances - the quickest man in history to score 50 or more goals for his nation, beating Harry Kane's record of bringing up a half century in 71 matches for England. Haaland's hat-trick - his sixth for Norway - also put him four behind the record in men's internationals that is jointly held by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Victory left Norway in a commanding position in Group I as they look to compete in their first major international tournament since 2000 and first World Cup for 28 years.

Much improved from their embarrassing 2-1 defeat by Armenia in September, the Republic's dogged defending looked to have been enough to earn a crucial point, especially after Caoimhin Kelleher saved Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty. But Ruben Neves glanced Francisco Trincao's cross home in the 91st minute to snatch a victory that moved Portugal five points clear in top spot and closer to World Cup qualification. "I'm sharing the feelings with the players, it was painful," Hallgrimsson told RTE. "After all this work, it was not perfect, but it was a great team performance. "We put a lot of energy into this match, defending, mostly, but we knew that we were going to need to defend and we did it quite well for most of the time. "When we got tired, when they got on the ball, these players have the quality to find the perfect passes as you saw in the goal. We gave them too much time to run into space and to find the killer pass."

With the visitors having won both their opening games in Pool A, Michael O'Neill's side could ill afford to lose any more ground before Germany's visit to Belfast on Monday, and they duly joined Slovakia on six points after a goal in each half. An own goal from Patrik Hrosovsky opened the scoring after 18 minutes before Sunderland defender Hume netted with nine minutes remaining from a fine looping strike. Northern Ireland started brightly but genuine chances had been limited before a neat exchange of passes between Conor Bradley and Ethan Galbraith sent the Swansea City midfielder charging towards the byeline, with a squared ball deflected into his own net by Hrosovsky. As the hosts continued to press, Jamie Reid had a golden chance to double the lead 10 minutes before half-time, but the Stevenage forward blasted high and wide on his weaker foot after the ball broke his way six yards from goal. Slovakia had to wait until the 52nd minute for their first real chance of the game when Middlesbrough forward David Strelec's cross was headed goalwards by Matus Bero, but Bailey Peacock-Farrell was able to palm the effort away having chased back into his net. At the other end, Reid had a goal chalked off for offside after he diverted Shea Charles' curling effort beyond Martin Dubravka, but Slovakia were coming more and more into the game. Strelec spurned a great chance for an equaliser when he rolled a shot just wide when put through by substitute Tomas Rigo, before Hume's composed lob over Dubravka from outside the penalty area ensured a key three points for Northern Ireland. In the night's other game in Group A, four-time World Cup winners Germany beat 10-man Luxembourg 4-0 in Sinsheim. Captain Joshua Kimmich scored twice with David Raum and Serge Gnabry also on target against opposition who had Dirk Carlson sent off after 20 minutes.

The Panthers remain a point behind Group F leaders Ivory Coast, who thrashed Seychelles 7-0. Only the group winners are assured of a spot at the 2026 finals in the United States, Mexico and Canada, but the second-placed side could still have a chance to reach the tournament via African and intercontinental play-offs. With the Ivorians expected to cruise past winless Seychelles, Gabon knew they realistically needed all three points from a trip to neutral Nairobi to take their challenge to the final round of matches. The West Africans took the lead twice in the first half through former Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea striker Aubameyang, but were quickly pegged back on both occasions. Yankuba Minteh and Adama Sidibeh equalised for the Gambians, and Sidibeh then headed the Scorpions ahead two minutes into the second half. Aubameyang made it 3-3 when he completed his hat-trick with a downward header just after the hour mark, and he then put Gabon back ahead in the 78th minute with a fine strike across goal. But the 36-year-old striker was booked after kicking - and breaking - a corner flag as part of his goal celebration and was dismissed with five minutes remaining for a needless shove on Gambian defender Alagie Saine. Aubameyang will now be suspended when Gabon finish their campaign with a home game against Burundi on Monday (19:00 GMT).