{"id":2616,"date":"2025-09-07T23:38:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T23:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/09\/07\/spain-thump-turkiye-6-0-in-world-cup-2026-qualifier-as-merino-scores-three\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T23:38:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T23:38:26","slug":"spain-thump-turkiye-6-0-in-world-cup-2026-qualifier-as-merino-scores-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/09\/07\/spain-thump-turkiye-6-0-in-world-cup-2026-qualifier-as-merino-scores-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain thump Turkiye 6-0 in World Cup 2026 qualifier as Merino scores three"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>A hat-trick from Mikel Merino, a brace from Pedri and a Ferran Torres strike condemn Turkiye to a shellacking at home.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Mikel Merino\u2019s hat-trick helped Spain to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/liveblog\/2025\/9\/7\/live-turkiye-vs-spain-world-cup-2026-qualifier\">thrash hosts Turkiye 6-0<\/a> in a World Cup qualifier as the European champions remained firmly in control of Group E.<\/p>\n<p>The hosts had no answer to Spain\u2019s dominance on Sunday, undone time and again by the visitors\u2019 speed and finesse, with a helpless Turkish defence torn apart on every counterattack.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2025\/9\/6\/ronaldo-nets-twice-for-portugal-in-emotional-world-cup-qualifier-in-armenia\">Ronaldo leads way in World Cup qualifying win as Portugal remembers Jota<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2025\/9\/5\/messi-scores-twice-for-argentina-as-he-bids-emotional-world-cup-farewell\">Barely a dry eye in Argentina as Messi signs off with a World Cup double<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2025\/9\/4\/germany-shocked-by-slovakia-with-third-loss-in-row-as-world-cup-path-begins\">Germany shocked by Slovakia with third loss in row as World Cup path begins<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2025\/9\/4\/daniel-levy-steps-down-as-tottenham-chairman-after-divisive-25-year-tenure\">Daniel Levy steps down as Tottenham chairman after divisive 25-year tenure<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Spain lead <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2025\/9\/4\/spain-thrash-bulgaria-but-georgia-test-turkiye-in-2026-world-cup-qualifiers\">the group<\/a> with six points from two matches, while Turkiye and Georgia sit on three points from the same. Georgia beat Bulgaria 3-0 earlier on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The visitors struck early as Pedri found the net in the sixth minute, slotting past goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir.<\/p>\n<p>Merino doubled Spain\u2019s tally in the 22nd minute, finishing off a slick passing move inside the box with a simple unmarked strike past the Turkish defence.<\/p>\n<p>In first-half stoppage time, Merino struck again, this time latching onto a pull-back and firing home to give Spain a three-goal cushion at the interval.<\/p>\n<p>The onslaught resumed eight minutes into the second half when a Turkish corner backfired, Ferran Torres led a rapid counterattack and finished off a sharp exchange inside the box to make it four.<\/p>\n<p>Brimming with confidence, Merino completed his hat-trick just four minutes later, capping another breakaway with a stunning left-footed curler from distance that flew into the top corner for Spain\u2019s fifth.<\/p>\n<p>Pedri added another one for Spain in the 62nd minute, arriving unmarked at the end of another swift break to slot home his second for the night.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in the UEFA qualifiers, four-time world champions Germany struggled for more than an hour against Northern Ireland, before scoring twice in three minutes in the second half to earn a 3-1 victory on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>With the score level at 1-1, a tap-in by substitute Nadiem Amiri in the 69th minute and a free kick from Florian Wirtz made sure of Germany\u2019s first win in Group A.<\/p>\n<p>It was also the first victory for Julian Nagelmann\u2019s team in their last five matches, and followed their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2025\/9\/4\/germany-shocked-by-slovakia-with-third-loss-in-row-as-world-cup-path-begins\">shock 2-0 loss<\/a> to hosts Slovakia on Thursday \u2013 their first ever away defeat in a World Cup qualifier \u2013 in their opening group match.<\/p>\n<p>In Sunday\u2019s other Group A game, Slovakia eked out a 1-0 win away at Luxembourg.<\/p>\n<p>In Brussels, meanwhile, Kevin De Bruyne underlined his talismanic role for Belgium with a stunning goal to break the deadlock and set his side on their way to a comfortable 6-0 win over Kazakhstan in their World Cup qualifier on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>It was threatening to become a frustrating night at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium for the Belgians before the 42nd-minute strike, but after that, they were able to go on and register a comfortable victory with both De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku scoring twice.<\/p>\n<p>Belgium have 10 points from four games in Group J, ahead of Wales on goal difference but trailing leaders North Macedonia, who beat Liechtenstein 5-0 earlier on Sunday by a point. North Macedonia and Wales have played five matches each, however.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, Memphis Depay set a new scoring record for the Netherlands as his double ensured they survived a scare in beating Lithuania 3-2 away in their qualifier on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Two goals for the 31-year-old Depay took his national team tally to 52, moving ahead of Robin van Persie\u2019s previous record, and putting the Netherlands at the top of the Group G standings with 10 points from four games \u2013 ahead of Poland on goal difference after the Poles won 3-1 at home to Finland on Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Source: <\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A hat-trick from Mikel Merino, a brace from Pedri and a Ferran Torres strike condemn Turkiye to a shellacking at home. Mikel Merino\u2019s hat-trick helped Spain to thrash hosts Turkiye 6-0 in a World Cup qualifier as the European champions remained firmly in control of Group E. The hosts had no answer to Spain\u2019s dominance &#8230; <a title=\"Spain thump Turkiye 6-0 in World Cup 2026 qualifier as Merino scores three\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/09\/07\/spain-thump-turkiye-6-0-in-world-cup-2026-qualifier-as-merino-scores-three\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Spain thump Turkiye 6-0 in World Cup 2026 qualifier as Merino scores three\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}