Graham Potter’s Sweden are one win from qualifying for the World Cup after Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick in their 3-1 play-off semi-final win over Ukraine.
The Arsenal forward had not scored in 2026 qualifying before Thursday’s game in Valencia, Spain.
But Gyokeres went home with the match ball after scoring in the sixth and 51st minutes, before completing his treble with a 73rd-minute penalty.
Sweden will face Poland in their play-off final on Tuesday, 31 March, after they also came from behind to overcome Albania 2-1, with veteran forward Robert Lewandowski, 37, among the scorers.
Kosovo, who are 78th in Fifa’s world rankings, will make their debut at this summer’s tournament if they beat Turkey in Pristina on Tuesday after twice coming from behind to stun Slovakia 4-3.
Turkey beat Romania 1-0, with Brighton full-back Ferdi Kadioglu scoring the only goal of the game in Istanbul.
And Denmark won 4-0 against North Macedonia in Copenhagen, with all four goals coming in the second half and Brentford’s Mikkel Damsgaard claiming the opener and Arsenal midfielder Christian Norgaard the fourth.
Elsewhere in the race to qualify for the World Cup, Northern Ireland’s World Cup dream ended with a 2-0 defeat away to Italy, while Wales and the Republic of Ireland both suffered agonising penalty shootout losses against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Czech Republic respectively after draws in extra time.
In the Intercontinental play-off semi-finals, played in World Cup co-host Mexico, Bolivia ended Suriname’s hopes of a first ever finals appearance with a 2-1 comeback success – and will face Iraq for a spot in the summer tournament.
Jamaica kept alive their hopes of a first World Cup appearance since 1998 by ending New Caledonia’s hopes of reaching the finals for the first time.
Wrexham striker Bailey Cadamarteri, the son of former Everton forward Danny, scored the only goal in a 1-0 win. Jamaica will play the Democratic Republic of Congo for a place at the World Cup.
Next Tuesday’s World Cup European qualifying play-off finals:
The Intercontinental play-off finals will be:
-
Bolivia v Iraq
-
Jamaica v DR Congo
