{"id":409474,"date":"2025-09-09T03:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T03:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/409474\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T03:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T03:59:10","slug":"world-cup-qualifying-isak-returns-in-sweden-loss-as-italy-edge-5-4-thriller-with-israel-world-cup-2026-qualifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/409474\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup qualifying: Isak returns in Sweden loss as Italy edge 5-4 thriller with Israel | World Cup 2026 qualifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool\u2019s new \u00a3125m signing Alexander Isak<\/a> made his first appearance of the season as a substitute for Sweden<\/strong> on Monday night, but he could not prevent his country falling to damaging 2-0 defeat away to Kosovo<\/strong> in World Cup qualifying.<\/p>\n

The Swedes, who conceded a 90th-minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw away to Slovenia on Friday, went behind in the 26th minute as goalkeeper Robin Olsen blocked Elvis Rexhbecaj\u2019s shot only for the rebound to fly off the midfielder\u2019s shin into the net.<\/p>\n

Vedat Muriqi made it 2-0 for Kosovo three minutes before the break and although Sweden<\/a> brought on Isak on 72 minutes, they could not find a way back into the game despite also having Arsenal\u2019s \u00a364m striker Viktor Gy\u00f6keres on the pitch from the start.<\/p>\n

The victory moves Kosovo up to second place in Group B on three points, three behind Switzerland<\/strong>, who thumped Slovenia<\/strong> 3-0 to make it two wins out of two. The Swedes are third on one point, ahead of Slovenia on goal difference. The top team in each group qualify directly for next year\u2019s finals with the runners-up going into the playoffs.<\/p>\n

While it was a frustrating night for Isak, his former Newcastle teammate, Sandro Tonali, was the hero for Italy<\/strong>, scoring a stoppage-time winner to seal an extraordinary 5-4 qualifying win against Israel<\/strong> in Hungary.<\/p>\n

The Italians scored two own goals, twice came from behind and conceded a late equaliser but somehow still won to stay in the hunt in Group I.<\/p>\n

Israel took a deserved lead in the 16th minute when Manuel Locatelli diverted Dan Biton\u2019s pullback into his own goal. Italy<\/a> found the equaliser five minutes from the break when Moise Kean\u2019s powerful low shot from outside the box found the bottom corner.<\/p>\n

Kean forced Israel\u2019s keeper Daniel Peretz into a save shortly after the interval but it was Israel who took the lead again in the 52nd minute, when Manor Solomon twisted and turned his way into the area before laying off a pass that Dor Peretz whipped first time beyond the reach of the Azzurri\u2019s No 1 Gianluigi Donnarumma.<\/p>\n

Italy were almost immediately back on terms, with Kean smashing in a half-volley from the edge of the area. And they took the lead for the first time when Matteo Politano poked home on 58 minutes. Italy looked to have sealed the win when substitute Giacomo Raspadori netted with nine minutes remaining \u2013 only for Alessandro Bastoni\u2019s own goal in the 87th minute to hand Israel a lifeline.<\/p>\n

Sandro Tonali of Italy celebrates his winner in the nine-goal thriller with Israel. Photograph: Image Photo Agency\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Chaos ensued, with Israel thinking they had snatched a draw when Dor Peretz headed his second in the 89th minute only for Tonali to fire in an opportunistic shot from outside the area. Italy\u2019s head coach, Gennaro Gattuso, taking charge of the national side for only the second time, said: \u201cWe\u2019re crazy \u2013 we conceded some absurd goals but we will hold on to this win.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The victory puts Italy second in the group on nine points, ahead of Israel on goal difference with a game in hand, but three points off Norway who have also played four matches.<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s<\/strong> Mikkel Damsgaard displayed the full range of his dribbling tricks as his side thumped Greece<\/strong> 3-0 away, grabbing the opening goal as the Danes went top of qualifying Group C ahead of Scotland on goal difference.<\/p>\n

Damsgaard put Denmark ahead in the 32nd minute, pirouetting and curling a superb shot past the despairing dive of Konstantinos Tzolakis for his fifth international goal. Denmark\u2019s second came after the break when Andreas Christensen surged forward from his centre-back position before firing home from the edge of the area. Rasmus H\u00f8jlund, on loan at Napoli from Manchester United, killed the game off two minutes later, tapping the ball into an empty net after Patrick Dorgu hit the post. The win leaves them level on four points with the Scots, who beat Belarus 2-0<\/a> in Hungary.<\/p>\n

In Group L, Croatia<\/strong> thrashed Montenegro<\/strong> 4-0 at home to move above the Czech Republic into top spot having played one game fewer. In the same group, the Faroe Islands<\/strong> won 1-0 away to Gibraltar<\/strong> in a battle of the minnows.<\/p>\n

In African qualifying, Tunisia\u2019s<\/strong> Mohamed Ben Romdhane scored a 94th-minute winner as they booked their place at the World Cup finals with a 1-0 victory over hosts Equatorial Guinea<\/strong>. They are the second African side to qualify after Morocco<\/strong> booked their spot last Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool\u2019s new \u00a3125m signing Alexander Isak made his first appearance of the season as a substitute for Sweden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-409474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}