Italy stay in World Cup hunt as Wales and Ireland suffer penalty heartbreak
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Italy's Moise Kean celebrates after scoring their second goal in the 2-0 World Cup 2026 play-off semi-final win over Northern Ireland in Bergamo on March 26, 2026.
PHOTO: REUTERS
BERGAMO – Italy will face Bosnia and Herzegovina for a place at the 2026 World Cup after beating Northern Ireland 2-0 on March 26, as Wales and Ireland suffered agonising penalty shoot-out defeats in their qualifying play-off semi-finals.
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.
The Azzurri 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 football’s biggest stage.
“We had to work hard because it was not easy tonight,” said the coach. “We knew this game would be tough, all we can do now is try to recharge the batteries.
“We’ve taken a little step forward, now we have to climb the mountain, the Everest.”
Italy will take on Bosnia in Zenica on March 31.
A late header from 40-year-old Edin Dzeko cancelled out Daniel 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.”
Elsewhere, Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick in Sweden’s 3-1 win over Ukraine.
The Arsenal striker 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 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 Matviy Ponomarenko grabbing a late consolation for Ukraine.
Italy's Sandro Tonali celebrates after scoring their first goal.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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 shoot-out 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 an 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 semi-final to extra time.
Finn Azaz and Alan Browne missed in the shoot-out 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 admitted to UEFA and FIFA competitions a decade ago, went in front courtesy of Florent Muslija and got another goal from Kreshnik Hajrizi.
David Strelec’s stoppage-time strike was not 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 semi-final in Istanbul. AFP
