Here's how the European path to the World Cup looks with so much yet to be decided


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We're one step closer to the final four UEFA teams in the World Cup being decided as Italy's bid to avoid missing their third straight World Cup lives on after their 2-0 defeat of Northern Ireland. It may have taken longer than expected for Sandro Tonali to open the scoring, but when Gennaro Gattuso's team hasn't appeared at a World Cup since 2014, they'll take what they can get. Next up will be a match against Bosnia & Herzegovina, who got past Wales on penalties, where the winner will head into Group B alongside Canada, Qatar, and Switzerland.

But while Italy got step one of their job done, how'd the rest of the playoffs shake out?

UEFA playoff scores
o Turkiye 1, Romania 0
o Czechia 2, Ireland 2 (Czechia advances 4-3 on penalties)
o Denmark 4, North Macedonia 0
o Italy 2, Northern Ireland 0
o Poland 2, Albania 1
o Slovakia 2, Kosovo 4
o Ukraine 1, Sweden 3
o Wales 1, Bosnia & Herzegovina 1 (Bosnia & Herzegovina advances 4-2 on penalties)

Path A
Final match: Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Italy (2:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday)

It took penalties to get there, but Bosnia & Herzegovina's triumph over Wales will set them up to make the World Cup for the first time since 2014 in Brazil. That's also the last time that Italy appeared at a World Cup, making this quite a match of fortunes. None other than Edin Dzeko was the one who tied things up before Brennan Johnson's missed penalty and Neco Williams' saved penalty were the difference in their shootout. Gone is Wales' chance to qualify for consecutive World Cups for the first time ever, but it will go down as what could've been.

Path B
Final match: Sweden vs. Poland (2:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday)

Who else but Robert Lewandowski to help Poland overcome a one-goal deficit to make it to one step from the World Cup, but they'll have a tough challenge in facing Sweden. They struggled during qualifying but made it to this stage via their UEFA Nations League performance before a Viktor Gyökeres hat trick was able to keep Sweden's dream alive. While Alexander Isak is still injured, Sweden will be a team that no one will want to face if they can keep things going. Defense has still been an issue but Ukraine aren't an easy side to shut out.

Path C
Final match: Kosovo vs. Turkiye (2:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday)

The winner of this match will face the United States men's national team during the World Cup, which Turkiye will relish as they were one of the last sides to defeat Mauricio Pochettino's men. It was an unusually defensive match for them to win, defeating Romania 1-0, but with young talents of Arda Güler and Kenan Yildiz, this is a team that can win in a shootout if needed. Kosovo winning may feel like an upset, but this is a team who have been improving rapidly. Fisnik Asllani is having a breakthrough season with Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga while Vedat Muriqi continues to be reliable for Mallorca, and they were quite involved while Kosovo try to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in their history.

Path D
Final match: Czechia vs. Denmark (2:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday)

Denmark won't be happy to be in these playoffs, and it showed with their professional dispatch of North Macedonia, but after Czechia's comeback to break Irish hearts, anything could happen in this final match. A late goal from Wolves defender Ladislav Krejci was enough to make the difference before Matej Kovar saved Finn Azaz's penalty to keep Ireland from ending their World Cup drought. Ireland haven't qualified since 2002, and that will continue.

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