BRATISLAVA, March 27 (Reuters) - It is less than a decade since Kosovo first played a World Cup qualifier, but they stand a single match away from a place at this year's finals in North America.
The small western Balkan republic declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 but was only admitted to the ranks of world football's governing body FIFA in 2016, playing a first competitive international in September of that year.
But if they win Tuesday's playoff at home to Turkey in Pristina, they will qualify for a first appearance at a major tournament, after a thrilling 4-3 away win at Slovakia in Thursday's playoff semi-final.
It was Kosovo's 100th international and their most important since home and away success over Sweden in their qualifying group last year saw them finish second behind Switzerland and book a berth in the playoffs.
"I always believe in the team and, despite twice being behind, they all believed in themselves to fight," Kosovo's German coach Franco Foda said after the match.
"I'm very proud of this team and I think after 90 minutes it was a deserved victory," he added.
Kosovo managed only one point in their first World Cup qualifying campaign, losing nine of 10 games, as they began to build a team which included players who were allowed to switch allegiance after previously playing for other countries, like striker Valon Berisha, formerly a Norwegian international, and Albania goalkeeper Samir Ujkani.
KOSOVO TURNED TO DIASPORATO STRENGTHEN SQUAD
They then sought to strengthen their squad with players from the extensive diaspora in Germany and Switzerland, and it is on the back of their performances that Kosovo steadily became more competitive.
Thursday's goalscorers were the German-born pair of Fisnik Asllani and Florent Muslija, Swiss-born Kreshnik Hajrizi and Veldin Hodza, born and raised in Croatia, who only last year changed his footballing nationality.
But they only broke into the top 100 of the FIFA rankings for the first time in late 2024 and qualifying would be a stunning achievement.
Home advantage on Tuesday could be a decisive factor. At first, Kosovo had to play home matches in neighbouring Albania during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers before being allowed to host games at Pristina's small 14,000-capacity Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri.
"We could probably sell 100,000 tickets for Tuesday's game, but with all this euphoria, we must keep our heads about us. The Turks have a very good team with excellent individual quality," Foda said.
The winner of Tuesday's playoff will complete in Group D at the World Cup, playing against Australia in Vancouver on June 13, Paraguay in San Francisco on June 19 and co-hosts United States in Los Angeles six days after that.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
