Sandro Tonali’s last-gasp winner on Monday edged Italy to a 5-4 victory over Israel in FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifying, while Kosovo beat Sweden despite Alexander Isak making his first appearance of the season.
After collapsing from leading 4-2 in the final two minutes to drawing 4-4, Tonali’s 91st-minute strike in the Hungarian city of Debrecen sent Italy above Israel and into the playoff spot in Group I.
New coach Gennaro Gattuso’s side trail leaders Norway by three points and still have a chance of taking first place and the group’s sole direct qualifying spot as they seek to avoid missing out on a third consecutive World Cup finals appearance.
Photo: AP
“We’ll take the win which was crucial for us, but we’re completely nuts, nuts because we conceded some absurd goals,” Gattuso said. “We need to work on that because we’re too fragile, we concede goals too easily. The boys know that, but this is my problem to fix.”
Israel, whose players donned black armbands in honor of the victims of Monday’s deadly shooting at a bus stop in east Jerusalem carried out by Palestinian gunmen, took an early lead through an own-goal.
Moise Kean wiped out the nominal hosts’ lead on two occasions before Italy went 4-2 ahead on 81 minutes. A second Dor Peretz strike in the 88th minute and a clumsy Alessandro Bastoni own-goal two minutes later made it appear the four-time world champions were on course for a disastrous result, but Tonali’s speculative effort went through a sea of legs and into the net to spark wild celebrations as the topsy-turvy encounter held one last surprise.
Israel have played their “home” matches in Hungary since the country’s offensive in Gaza.
Sweden’s slow start to their qualifying campaign continued into their second match as they went down 2-0 to Kosovo in Pristina.
Sweden now sit on just one point after a last-gasp equalizer by Slovenia condemned them to a 2-2 draw on Friday last week.
Goals in the first half by Elvis Rexhbecaj and Vedat Muriqi were enough to give Kosovo just their second-ever win in World Cup qualifying.
Augsburg midfielder Rexhbecaj bundled the hosts ahead on 26 minutes after goalkeeper Robin Olsen saved his initial one-on-one effort.
Kosovo captain Muriqi then doubled the lead three minutes before halftime with a powerful strike from the edge of the penalty area.
English Premier League record signing Isak was sent on from the bench to try and salvage something for Sweden in the final 20 minutes.
The Liverpool star had a chance to halve the deficit on 85 minutes, but was stoutly denied by goalkeeper Arijanet Muric as Kosovo moved second in Group B, despite finishing with 10 men.
“[Isak] had only done three training sessions with the team,” Sweden head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson told Viaplay.
“He had no pre-season with the team and of course no playing time,” he added of the 25-year-old, who endured a turbulent departure from former club Newcastle United.
Switzerland, who beat Kosovo 4-0 last week, stay top of the group following a dominant first-half display in Basel against Slovenia.
The hosts ran out 3-0 winners after goals by Nico Elvedi, Breel Embolo and Dan Ndoye inside the first 40 minutes.
Denmark won by the same margin in Greece as they moved top of Group C on four points. They sit level with Scotland, who beat Belarus 2-0 in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary.
Croatia took the lead in Group L with a 4-0 home victory over neighboring Montenegro.
Kristijan Jakic opened the scoring in Zagreb, before Montenegro were reduced to 10 men when Andrija Bulatovic saw red.
Andrej Kramaric went clear at the top of the qualification scoring chart with his sixth goal of the campaign on 51 minutes, before a late Edvin Kuc own-goal and an Ivan Perisic strike put a gloss on the result.
The 2018 World Cup runners-up leapfrogged the Czech Republic atop the table with both countries boasting 12 points, although Croatia have a match in hand.
The Faroe Islands moved to third in the group with a 1-0 win over Gibraltar.
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