It was a night of equal misfortune for Wales and the Republic of Ireland, who were eliminated from World Cup qualifying. Both teams lost leads in the final minutes before losing painful penalty shootouts to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Czechia, respectively.
Viktor Gyokeres was the hero for Sweden on Thursday night as the Arsenal forward's clinical hat-trick secured a 3-1 victory over Ukraine. The result keeps Sweden's dreams of reaching the 2026 World Cup alive, setting up a winner-takes-all play-off showdown with Poland.
Turkey have reached the final of the World Cup play-offs. In the semi-final against Romania, Ferdi Kadioglu scored the decisive goal to make it 1–0 in the second half following a superb assist from Arda Güler.