Gyokeres’ Sweden hero as Kosovo dream of first World Cup

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 77th 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 were taken to extra-time by Bosnia-Herzegovina after their tie ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.

The Republic of Ireland led the Czech Republic 2-0 in Prague before the hosts fought back to draw level and take the game into extra time.