Gyokeres' Sweden hero as Kosovo dream of first World Cup

125 CommentsGraham 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.

Next Tuesday's World Cup qualifying play-off finals:

Kosovo have only been playing international football since 2014, external and never qualified for a major tournament.

Yet the Balkan nation stand one win away from a place in the World Cup finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States after emerging triumphant in a seven-goal thriller against Slovakia in Bratislava.

The hosts took a sixth-minute lead through Martin Valjent, but Kosovo equalised with a smart finish by Veldin Hodza.

Slovakia were back in front when Lukas Haraslin's free-kick crept in, but Fisnik Asllani pegged them back at 2-2.

Florent Muslija's free-kick on the hour made it 3-2 to Kosovo and Kreshnik Hajrizi added a fourth from point-blank range, before Middlesbrough forward David Strelec handed Slovakia a brief glimmer of hope with an injury-time strike.

However, Kosovo hung on for a famous win to keep their dream alive.

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Kosovo are undefeated in their last six World Cup qualifiers, their longest unbeaten streak in the competition

Having scored 16 times in his debut season at Arsenal, Gyokeres has now hit form for his country at just the right time.

The 27-year-old's hat-trick swept aside Ukraine and set up a winner-takes-all play-off final against Poland in Stockholm on Tuesday.

Gyokeres put Arsenal's 2-0 Carabao Cup final defeat by Manchester City last weekend behind him as he registered three attempts - and scored from them all.

It meant Potter, who started the season as West Ham boss, could finish it by leading Sweden to a first World Cup since 2018.

And the Englishman will hope Gyokeres can continue his fine form against Poland - and Lewandowski - next week.

This summer could well be the legendary Barcelona frontman's last chance of playing on the World Cup stage.

Poland's all-time top scorer, who appeared at the 2018 and 2022 editions, turns 38 in August.

Lewandowski took his tally to 89 goals in 164 appearances by heading his side's equaliser after Arber Hoxha had put Albania, who have never qualified for the World Cup, ahead in Warsaw.

Midfielder Piotr Zielinski, who plays his club football for Inter Milan, scored the winner in the 73rd minute to settle the outcome.

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Robert Lewandowski was wearing a protective mask after suffering a facial injury earlier this month

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