World Cup

TBILISI — Spain striker Dani Olmo snatched a 2-1 win away to Georgia in their World Cup qualifier on Sunday with a stoppage-time strike from outside the area to kick-start his side's efforts to qualify for Qatar 2022 after a sluggish start.

Georgia, ranked 89th in the world, 83 places below Spain, thrilled the 15,000 fans in the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena when 20-year-old winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia fired them ahead two minutes before halftime after they coasted past the defence.

Add yet another first to Stéphanie Frappart’s impressive resumé. The French referee became the first woman to officiate a men’s World Cup qualifier, taking charge of the Netherlands’ 2-0 win over Latvia on Saturday.

Canada’s men’s national team is guaranteed to qualify for at least its second-ever World Cup appearance in 2026 as one of three host nations (along with the U.S. and Mexico). Before that, the Canucks are trying to qualify the hard way for the 2022 World Cup. And when we say the hard way, we mean it. But after watching Alphonso Davies and his teammates torch Bermuda on Thursday, they might just be up to the task.

Over the years FIFA has been opposed to players, teams and fans engaging in protests or sloganeering but it seems global soccer's governing body is perhaps now prepared to tolerate a blurring of the line it once drew between politics and sport.

On Wednesday, Norway's national team players wore T-shirts declaring "Human rights - on and off the pitch" as they lined up before their World Cup qualifier against Gibraltar, and the following day Germany made a similar protest before its qualifier against Iceland in Duisburg.

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's superb 1-0 victory over more heralded neighbors Croatia in World Cup qualifying showed they are more than just a nation of Alpine skiers, defender Petar Stojanović said on Thursday.

The Slovenians outplayed the 2018 World Cup runners-up on Wednesday at the start of Group H qualifying for next year's tournament in Qatar and Stojanović, who plays his club football for Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, was delighted.

ISTANBUL - Veteran captain Burak Yılmaz netted a hat-trick as Turkey saw off a late rally from the Netherlands to secure a 4-2 home victory on Wednesday at the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Yılmaz opened the scoring in the 14th minute of the Group G match with a deflected shot followed by a penalty 20 minutes later at Istanbul's Atatürk Olympic Stadium to put the Turks 2-0 up at halftime.

AMSTERDAM - The Netherlands team hope that this week’s start of the World Cup qualifiers in Europe will highlight the plight of migrant workers in Qatar and help to improve their working conditions.

"A lot of attention is now focused on whether we should go there if we qualify," coach Frank de Boer told a news conference on the eve of his team’s opening Group G match against Turkey in Istanbul, amid growing controversy at home over Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 finals. 

Belize's football federation (FFB) expressed "disappointment and disgust" on Monday after the bus ferrying the squad to their hotel in Haiti was stopped by an armed gang on motorcycles.

The incident occurred shortly after the squad had arrived in the Caribbean nation to play a World Cup qualifier.

STOCKHOLM - AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimović shed a few tears of pride as he returned to Sweden's national team after a four-year absence for their World Cup qualifiers and recounted how his son did not want him to leave home to join up with Janne Andersson's squad.

The 39-year-old, who quit international football after Euro 2016, choked up when he was asked what his boys, Maximilian, 14, and 12-year-old Vincent, thought of his decision to answer his country's call again and return to the world stage.