Ukraine qualified for the 2026 World Cup play-offs after a difficult 2-0 victory at home against Iceland in a match from qualifying group "D", BTA reported.
Late goals by Oleksandr Zubkov and Oleksiy Gutsulyak secured the important victory in favor of the Ukrainian team in the match played in front of over 30 thousand spectators in Warsaw. The Ukrainians finish second in the group with 10 points, while the Icelanders remain in third position with 8 points.
Exactly 600 days ago, Iceland eliminated Ukraine in the Euro 2024 play-offs, and Zubkov opened the scoring with a header against the back post in the 83rd minute. Deep into extra time, Gutsulyak scored the valuable victory for the hosts.
In the other match in this group, France, who secured their early qualification for the 2026 World Cup, defeated Azerbaijan 3-1 away and finished with 16 points in first position. The hosts surprisingly took the lead after a goal by Renat Dadashov in the fourth minute. Nearly a quarter of an hour later, Jean-Philippe Mateta equalized, and a goal by Christopher Nkunku was canceled due to handball and VAR intervention.
Manes Aklyush made a complete turnaround in favor of the "roosters" in the 30th minute, but a goal by Heffren Thuram was also disallowed due to a foul.
An own goal by goalkeeper Shahrudin Magomedaliev made it 3-1 for the two-time world champions in the dying seconds of the first half.
Azerbaijan has won just 1 point in 6 matches and is bottom of the standings.
In Group "K" England won 2-0 away to Albania. Goals from star striker Harry Kane in the final quarter of an hour of the match secured a full 24 points for the "Three Lions", while the Albanians are second with 14 points and will participate in the play-offs for next year's finals.
The English are the first team from the European zone to keep a clean sheet in eight World Cup qualifiers.
Serbia won hard after coming from 0-1 down to 2-1 after the break against visiting Latvia. Aleksandar Kataj and Aleksandar Stankovic were on target in the second half after Vladislavs Gutkovskis had put the Latvians ahead in the score in the 12th minute.
The Serbs are in third place with 13 points, while Latvia is in fourth place with 5 points.