Italy stay in WC hunt as Wales, Ireland lose

PARIS: Italy will face Bosnia and Herzegovina for a place at the 2026 World Cup after beating Northern Ireland 2-0 on Thursday, as Wales and the Republic of Ireland suffered agonising penalty shootout defeats in their qualifying play-off semifinals.
Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean struck second-half goals in Bergamo to keep four-time World Cup winners Italy on track to end a 12-year absence from the tournament.
Italy missed the last two editions in Russia and Qatar but Tonali's powerful drive and an excellent finish from Kean nudged Gennaro Gattuso's team a step closer to a return to international football's biggest stage.
'We had to work hard because it was not easy tonight,' said Gattuso.
'We knew this game would be tough, all we can do now is try to recharge the batteries.'
Italy will take on Bosnia in Zenica next Tuesday. A late header from 40-year-old Edin Dzeko cancelled out Dan James' superb opener for Wales and forced extra time in Cardiff, where Bosnia scraped through 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
'We're lost for words. We prepared as well as we could have and I thought we played well,' Wales captain Ethan Ampadu told the BBC.
'We can hold our heads up high because we fought for everything, sometimes in life things don't go your way.'
Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick in Sweden's 3-1 win over Ukraine.
Arsenal striker Gyokeres netted his first goals of the qualifying campaign to lead Sweden to the brink of the finals, despite a dismal group stage in which they picked up just two points in six matches.
Sweden got another chance as a result of their Uefa Nations League performances and Gyokeres turned in from close range early on against Ukraine, unable to play at home because of the war with Russia and instead having to move the tie to neutral ground in Valencia, Spain.
Gyokeres tucked away his second six minutes after the break and converted a penalty to complete his treble and seal victory for Graham Potter's team, with Matvii Ponomarenko grabbing a late consolation for Ukraine.

LEWANDOWSKI INSPIRES POLAND COMEBACK
Sweden will play Poland in Stockholm for one of four remaining European tickets to the World Cup.
Robert Lewandowski helped Poland come from behind to scrape past Albania 2-1 after Arber Hoxha gave the visitors the lead in Warsaw.
Lewandowski headed in from a corner to bring Poland level with his 89th goal for his country before Piotr Zielinski grabbed the winner.
Czech Republic goalkeeper Matej Kovar saved two penalties in a shootout to steer his team past Ireland in Prague.
Ireland looked well placed for a first trip to the World Cup since 2002 as Troy Parrott's penalty and own goal by Kovar put them 2-0 ahead.
Patrik Schick pulled a goal back from the spot and Ladislav Krejci powered in a header on 86 minutes to level at 2-2 and send the semifinal to extra time.
Finn Azaz and Alan Browne both missed in the shootout as the Czechs lined up a showdown at home to a rampant Denmark.
'Just pain. We all feel pain. When you go this far it's a flip of a coin. Just pain we feel being that close,' Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson told RTE.
The Danes eased to a 4-0 victory over North Macedonia in Copenhagen with all the goals coming in the second half. Mikkel Damsgaard broke the deadlock and Gustav Isaksen scored twice in as many minutes before Christian Norgaard added a fourth.
Kosovo are on the brink of a first appearance at any major tournament following a wild 4-3 win away to Slovakia.
Slovakia twice led in Bratislava through goals from Martin Valjent and Lukas Haraslin, but Kosovo fought back with efforts from Veldin Hodza and Fisnik Asllani.
Kosovo, who were only admitted to Uefa and Fifa competitions a decade ago, then went in front courtesy of Florent Muslija and got another goal from Kreshnik Hajrizi.
David Strelec's stoppage-time strike wasn't enough to deny Kosovo, who will host Turkey for the right to go to the World Cup.
Ferdi Kadioglu scored a second-half winner for Turkey in a 1-0 victory over Romania in their play-off semifinal in Istanbul.
Turkey, quarterfinalists at Euro 2024, are bidding to reach the showpiece tournament for the first time since finishing third in South Korea and Japan 24 years ago. — AFP
European 2026 World Cup play-off results
(aet denotes after extra time):
Semifinals
In Istanbul, Turkey
Turkey 1 (Kadioglu 53) Romania 0
In Bergamo, Italy
Italy 2 (Tonali 56, Kean 80) Northern Ireland 0
In Cardiff
Wales 1 (D. James 51) Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 (Dzeko 86) - aet
Bosnia win 4-2 on penalties
In Valencia, Spain
Ukraine 1 (Ponomarenko 90) Sweden 3 (Gyokeres 6, 51, 73-pen)
In Warsaw
Poland 2 (Lewandowski 63, Zielinski 73) Albania 1 (Hoxha 42)
In Bratislava
Slovakia 3 (Valjent 6, Haraslin 45, Strelec 90+4) Kosovo 4 (Hodza 22, Asllani 47, Muslija 60, Hajrizi 72)
In Copenhagen
Denmark 4 (Damsgaard 49, Isaksen 58, 59, Norgaard 75) North Macedonia 0
In Prague
Czech Republic 2 (Schick 27-pen, Krejci 86) Republic of Ireland 2 (Parrott 19-pen, Kovar 23-og) - aet
Czech Republic win 4-3 on penalties
Playing Tuesday, March 31 (all 1945 GMT)
Finals
Bosnia and Herzegovina v Italy
Kosovo v Turkey
Sweden v Poland
Czech Republic v Denmark