Newcastle United are set to have two more players heading to the 2026 World Cup in North Amercia - and two that won’t.
Sandro Tonali’s wait to represent Italy at a major international tournament continues after the four-time world champions were denied a place at the World Cup once again.
Tonali played a key role in setting up a World Cup play-off match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday with a goal and an assist in the semi-final play-off against Northern Ireland last week.
The Newcastle United midfielder played 120 minutes for Italy, the majority of which were with 10 men following Alessandro Bastoni’s red card. Italy held out for penalties and Tonali converted his spot kick but it wasn’t enough as Bosnia won the shootout to confirm their place at this summer’s tournament.
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It’s the third successive World Cup Italy has missed out on, a record for a former winner of the tournament. Since winning the 2006 final in Germany, Italy have not played a World Cup knockout round match.
And having missed Euro 2024 due to his betting ban, Tonali is yet to play in a major tournament for his country.
There was also penalty disappointment for William Osula and Denmark, who lost out on a place at the World Cup to Czechia. Osula was an unused substitute in the match as he waits for his first senior international cap.
NUFC duo set for World Cup
There was better news for Anthony Elanga and Sweden as they qualified for the World Cup through the back door despite not winning any qualifying matches.
Sweden’s standing in the Nations League awarded them a play-off spot, which they took full advantage of. Elanga opened the scoring in a 3-2 win over Poland to confirm their spot in this summer’s tournament.
Yoane Wissa is also set to be going to the World Cup after DR Congo beat Jamaica 1-0 in their intercontinental play-off match.
It marks a strong international turnaround for the 29-year-old after he saw his Newcastle debut delayed by three months after he suffered a serious knee injury while away on international duty with DR Congo in September.
Wissa ended up returning to fitness ahead of the African Cup of Nations in December but a decision was made to keep the player at Newcastle to work on his fitness and make an impact at club level.
Despite initially positive signs with goals on his full debuts in the Carabao Cup, Premier League and Champions League, Wissa has struggled to make an impact since with no goals and limited gametime since January.
Going away on international duty with DR Congo was a chance for Wissa to get some minutes under his belt for an important match.
DR Congo claimed a 2-0 win over Bermuda last Wednesday evening with Wissa converting a second half penalty. Last season, only golden boot winner Mohamed Salah scored more non-penalty goals in the Premier League that Wissa, who netted 19.
But he has scored just once in the league for Newcastle this season in what has been a frustrating campaign both individually for Wissa and collectively for the club.
But the 29-year-old could built on his penalty goal by helping DR Congo secure a World Cup spot for the first time since 1974.
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