West Ham United forwards Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus both helped their countries ease to FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifying wins on Friday night.
Hammers skipper Bowen came off the bench to feature for the final 16 minutes of England’s comfortable 2-0 victory over Albania at Wembley, in the first match under the tutelage of Head Coach Thomas Tuchel.
The Three Lions got the first clash of their UEFA Group K campaign off to the ideal start when young Arsenal defender Myles Lewis-Skelly marked his Three Lions debut by opening the scoring in the 20th minute.
Captain Harry Kane then scored what proved to be the winner - his 70th goal in 104 international appearances - shortly after Bowen had come on for his 15th cap, in place of Manchester City’s Phil Foden.
Our No20 will be hoping for more gametime when he and his teammates welcome Latvia - who made a winning start to the group away at Andorra - to the English capital at 7.45pm GMT on Monday 24 March.
Over in Africa, Kudus and Ghana scored a thumping 5-0 win over Chad in Accra to soar to the top of the CAF Group I standings.
The Black Stars responded to their disappointment at failing to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations back in November in perfect fashion, with AFC Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo, Leicester City’s Jordan Ayew, and Iñaki Williams, Mohammed Salisu and Ernest Nuamah all etching their names on to the scoresheet.
Kudus completed the full 90 minutes of his team’s resounding win on home turf, and will now be looking to help his nation secure another three-point haul against Madagascar - who beat the Central African Republic 4-1 on Wednesday and are currently second in the table, two points behind Ghana after five games - in Morocco at 7pm GMT on Monday 24 March.
Defender Nayef Aguerd - currently on loan at Spanish La Liga side Real Sociedad - played the whole of Morocco’s dramatic 2-1 win over Niger in World Cup qualifying CAF Group E.
The Atlas Lions equalised through Ismael Saibari after Youssouf Oumarou had put Niger ahead early in the second half, before Leicester’s Bilal El-Khannouss snatched the points in stoppage time.
The win stretches Morocco’s lead at the top of the ranks to six points after four games played, and they will look to stretch their 100 per cent record when they next take on Tanzania back in Oujda at 9.30pm GMT on Tuesday 25 March.
Elsewhere, young West Ham forward Callum Marshall - who is enjoying a strong season on loan at Huddersfield Town in EFL League One - was an unused substitute for Northern Ireland, who claimed a 1-1 friendly draw with Switzerland at Windsor Park.
West Bromwich Albion’s Isaac Price made it 1-0 to Michael O'Neill’s men with a fine free-kick with just over quarter-of-an-hour gone, before Vincent Sierro grabbed the leveller for the visitors in the 28th minute.
Northern Ireland are back in action, in another friendly, away to Sweden at 6pm GMT on Tuesday 25 March.
