Italy will face Bosnia and Herzegovina for a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after beating Northern Ireland 2-0 at home on Thursday, while Wales and the Republic of Ireland suffered agonizing penalty shootout defeats in semifinal showdowns in the qualifying playoffs.

Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean scored second-half goals in Bergamo to keep four-time World Cup winners Italy on track to end a 12-year absence from the tournament.

The Azzurri missed the last two editions in Russia and Qatar, but Tonali's powerful drive and Kean's excellent finish nudged coach Gennaro Gattuso's team a step closer to a long-awaited return to international football's biggest stage. The Italians will visit Bosnia and Herzegovina in Zenica next Tuesday.

That's because a late header from 40-year-old Edin Dzeko canceled out a superb opener by Wales winger Dan James and forced extra time in Cardiff, where the visiting Bosnians scraped through 4-2 on penalties.

In another contest that came down to spot kicks, Czech Republic goalkeeper Matej Kovar saved two penalties in a shootout to steer the hosts past Ireland in Prague 4-3 after a 2-2 draw, setting up a home meeting with Denmark.

The Danes eased to a 4-0 victory over North Macedonia at home in Copenhagen, with all of the goals coming in the second half. Mikkel Damsgaard broke the deadlock and Gustav Isaksen scored twice in as many minutes before Christian Norgaard added the fourth.

Viktor Gyokeres tallied a hat-trick in Sweden's 3-1 win over Ukraine in the Spanish city of Valencia. The Arsenal striker netted his first goals of the qualifying campaign to lead the Scandinavians to the brink of the finals, despite a dismal group stage campaign in which they picked up just two points from six matches. The Swedes will welcome Poland to Stockholm in a battle for one of four remaining European tickets to the World Cup.

Robert Lewandowski helped the Poles come from behind to scrape past Albania 2-1, after Arber Hoxha had given the visitors the lead in Warsaw.

Kosovo are on the brink of a first appearance at any major tournament following a wild 4-3 win at Slovakia.

And the day's final European qualifier saw Ferdi Kadioglu strike a second-half winner for Türkiye in a 1-0 victory over Romania in Istanbul.

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Bolivia put together a stirring second-half comeback to shatter Suriname's longshot dream of World Cup qualification, rallying for a 2-1 victory in a playoff game in the Mexican city of Monterrey.

The Bolivians will face Iraq next Tuesday, with the winner advancing to the World Cup's Group I alongside France, Norway and Senegal at this year's finals in Mexico, Canada and the USA.