Reuters: Kosovo overthrows Slovakia, secures play-off final against Turkey

Kosovo has won a spectacular victory over Slovakia with a score of 4-3 on its journey, in a dramatic semi-final play-off played Thursday, thus ensuring a decisive house-to-house confrontation over Turkey on Tuesday for a World Cup seat.

Reuters writes that the Balkan state, which has only started playing international football since 2014 and has never qualified in a major tournament, is now only a match far from participating in the final phase held in Canada, Mexico and the United States starting in June.

Kosovo will host Turkey in Pristina on Tuesday for a seat in the D World Cup Group, where Australia, Paraguay and the United States await them.

Slovakia passed through the upper hand as early as the sixth minute, when wing defender Martin Valjent made it head-to-head after a kick from the corner. Kosovo, however, equated the first blow to the gate, through a clever finalisation by Veldin Hoxha.

Bratislava, who was the only presentation at the World Cup in 2010, restored the advantage on the eve of the end of the first part, when Lucas Haraslin's free throw from the left arm went by without anyone being touched and ended up on the net.

Just 60 seconds after the start of the second part, Kosovo again equated via noble Aslan, while then Florent Muslija realised from the free throw to the first pillar to top Kosovo 3-2 in the 60th minute.

Kreshnik Hajrizi scored the fourth goal for Kosovo in the vicinity, profiting from a cheap ball in the 72nd minute, and “Dardians” managed to keep the advantage until the additional minutes.

David Strelec narrowed Slovakia's score for four minutes in the extra time, providing a brief hope for locals, but final volume confirmed their elimination.

Meanwhile, Turkey won the next World-off semifinal in Europe, defeating Romania by a score of 1-0 in Istanbul.