{"id":574192,"date":"2026-04-01T02:17:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/574192\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T02:17:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T02:17:16","slug":"sweden-qualify-for-world-cup-after-viktor-gyokeres-hits-late-winner-against-poland-world-cup-2026-qualifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/574192\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweden qualify for World Cup after Viktor Gy\u00f6keres hits late winner against Poland | World Cup 2026 qualifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are easy ways to qualify for the World Cup and there are complicated ways. Poland<\/a> won six qualifiers whereas Sweden won two but it is Sweden, elevated by the magic of Graham Potter, the persistence of Viktor Gy\u00f6keres and the noble head of the 11th Baron Lagerbielke who will be going to the World Cup. They have qualified not so much through the back door as up the tree and through the bathroom window, but they will take their place in a group with Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan.<\/p>\n

As the final whistle blew and Sweden\u2019s substitutes and coaching staff surged across the pitch in gleeful celebration, Robert Lewandowski dropped to his haunches on the edge of the penalty area, his face mask dangling loose around his throat. The World Cup has never been a particularly kind tournament for the Poland forward; he has played in just two and scored only twice; at 37, he will surely not get another chance to improve his record.<\/p>\n

Sweden took just two points from six games in the group stage, a campaign that was sunk long before they turned to Potter<\/a>, who took over from Jon Dahl Tomasson with two games remaining. But the Nations League repechage got them into the play-offs, and a 3-1 win over Ukraine in Valencia restored at least a measure of confidence. Twice they took the lead and twice they were pegged back, Poland bossed the ball, but they found an 89th-minute winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain, hard to describe,\u201d said a clearly delighted Potter. \u201cJust an incredible evening, just so proud to be part of that and obviously proud to experience it. It was just the best night I\u2019ve had in football. Incredible, like I was having some sort of out-of-body experience. I\u2019m looking at the goal and suddenly all our bench is running and you\u2019re thinking, am I here? I\u2019m just grateful to be part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sweden took the lead after 20 minutes with a well-worked goal, Yasin Ayari touching Gabriel Gudmundsson\u2019s low cross back to Anthony Elanga who swept his shot high past Kamil Grabara. The first Polish equaliser was a desperately poor goal for Sweden to concede.<\/p>\n

Graham Potter is joyous on the touchline after the former Chelsea and Brighton manager led Sweden to the World Cup. Photograph: Jesper Zerman\/BILDBYR\u00c5N\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt had a generally good night, making a couple of excellent saves, but he was badly at fault, as was the right wing-back Daniel Svensson as Jakub Kaminski cut infield and clipped his shot through the arms of the former Swansea reserve.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the campaign, Sweden might have wilted and they did rock for a moment. But just before half-time a needless foul by Jakub Kiwior on Elanga gifted Sweden a free-kick in a dangerous area on the right. Svensson swung it in and Gustaf Lagerbielke, 254th in line to the Swedish throne, a player who grew up with coats of arms on his shinpads, bulleted his header into the top corner.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideCzech Republic hold nerve to beat DenmarkShow\"\"<\/p>\n

Michal Sadilek\u2019s penalty sent the Czech Republic to the World Cup as they beat Denmark 3-1 in a shootout in Prague on Tuesday following a 2-2 draw after extra time.<\/p>\n

Tomas Chory and Tomas Soucek also scored for the Czechs in the shootout while Ladislav Krejci was denied by Danish goalkeeper Mads Hermansen. For the visitors, Christian Eriksen was the only shootout scorer while Rasmus H\u00f8jlund hit the crossbar, Anders Dreyer was denied by goalkeeper Matej Kovar and Mathias Jensen fired over the crossbar.<\/p>\n

On the chilly night in Prague, Pavel Sulc opened the score for the Czechs with a fine volley into the top corner three minutes into the game after the Danish defence had cleared a corner in his direction. <\/p>\n

Denmark levelled in the 72nd minute when Mikkel Damsgaard\u2019s free-kick found Joachim Andersen in the box ready with a glancing header.<\/p>\n

Czech captain Krejci gave the hosts the lead again in the 100th minute as he picked up a ball knocked down by Soucek in a goalmouth scramble following Vladimir Coufal\u2019s cross and his shot was deflected into the net by Danish defender Alexander Bah.<\/p>\n

But Denmark levelled again in the 111th minute when substitute Kasper H\u00f8gh headed home Eriksen\u2019s corner six minutes after coming on to the pitch. AFP<\/p>\n

Photograph: Gabriel Kuchta\/Getty Images Europe<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel helpless,\u201d said the Poland coach Jan Urban. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain yourself after a match like this, where it hurts even more knowing that you played well. If you yourself cause the concession of goals, it is not that easy to make up for the loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poland weren\u2019t quite done and Karol Swiderski levelled 10 minutes after half-time, poking the ball in as Nicola Zalewski fired across the face of goal. They seemed the more dangerous but then Sweden won a pair of corners in a row. The second was half-cleared, Lucas Bergvall\u2019s effort was saved, Besfort Zeneli skewed against the post and the ball fell for Gy\u00f6keres five yards out with the goal gaping.<\/p>\n

Destiny called and the Arsenal \u00adforward answered emphatically.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are easy ways to qualify for the World Cup and there are complicated ways. Poland won six…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-574192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}