England and Portugal became the 12th and...

England and Portugal became the 12th and 13th countries, respectively, to qualify for next year’s World Cup soccer championship in Mexico.

England, which won the World Cup in 1966, qualified by thrashing Turkey, 5-0, in front of 52,500 fans at Wembley Stadium in London. Portugal, meanwhile, reached the final 24 with a stunning 1-0 victory over West Germany in Munich. The West Germans’ loss was their first in 37 World Cup qualifying matches stretching back to 1934.

In other games, Northern Ireland boosted its chances of advancing by surprising Romania, 1-0, in Bucharest; Belgium defeated Holland, 1-0 in Brussels; Denmark trounced Norway, 5-0, in Oslo, the Soviet Union beat Ireland, 2-0, in Moscow, and Czechoslovakia edged Sweden, 2-1, in Prague.