Georgia, Greece, Poland, Wales, Ukraine and Iceland step nearer Euros

Georgia moved one win away from their first appearance in a men's major football tournament when they beat Luxembourg 2-0 in their Euro 2024 play-off semi-final on Thursday, while Greece, Wales, Poland, Ukraine and Iceland also prevailed.

Ukraine scored twice late on to come back and beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1 away in a famous victory for the war-torn nation. Roman
Yaremchuk and Artem Dovbyk netted on 85 an 88 minutes after Mykola
Matviyenko's own goal.

Georgia will host 2004 champions Greece, who beat Kazakhstan 5-0 in their play-off semi-final, in the Path C final on Tuesday and victory will hand them one of the three remaining places at the Euros in Germany from June 14 to July 14.

Georgians have played for the Soviet Union in major tournaments but never for their independent nation. Luxembourg were also looking to reach their first World Cup or European Championship.

Karlsruhe's Budu Zivzivadze hit the post early on in the Tbilisi rain and then broke the deadlock for the dominant hosts on 40 minutes.

The visitors thought they had levelled through Gerson Rodrigues early in the second half but a VAR check meant play was brought back and Maxime Chanot was sent off for a professional foul moments earlier.

Zivzivadze then struck again soon afterwards.

Whoever wins between Georgia and Greece in Tbilisi on Tuesday will go into Group F at the Euros alongside Turkey, 2016 winners Portugal and the Czech Republic.

The play-offs are a remnant of the last Nations League campaign, with European governing body UEFA leaving three slots in the Euros open to teams who did not reach the 24-team tournament via the usual qualifiers.

UEFA hopes to therefore open up its flagship tournament to smaller nations who might not ordinarily qualify.

In one-off semis in Path A are Poland crushed 10-man Estonia 5-1 in Warsaw and hosts Wales beat Finland 4-1, with the winners now meeting in Tuesday's final in Cardiff.

France, the Netherlands and and Austria await the victors in Group D in the Euros.

In Path B, Iceland won 4-1 against Israel courtesy of a hat-trick by Genoa's Albert Gudmundsson in a game played in Budapest due the Gaza war.

The Icelanders will face Ukraine in Poland's Wroclaw on Tuesday in the decider, with a place in Group E with Belgium, Slovakia, Romania the prize.

Since being invaded by Russia two years ago, Ukraine missed out in the play-offs for the 2022 World Cup and face these play-offs for Euro 2024.