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04/01 08:29 CDT World Cup qualifying was long, wacky and historic. This is what we've learned World Cup qualifying was long, wacky and historic. This is what we've learned By STEVE DOUGLAS and GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writers Qualifying is done. The lineup is complete. The countdown to the biggest-ever World Cup is on, with the 48-team tournament in North America a veritable hodgepodge of stellar names and unheralded upstarts. Here's a look at what we learned from a qualification campaign that lasted 2 1/2 years, featured 2,527 goals, and finished Tuesday with six nations booking the final spots at soccer's biggest event.

You can qualify for the World Cup without winning a qualifying match Sweden appears to have done the impossible. How, people might ask, can a team that didn't win a match in its qualifying group end up getting to the World Cup? The answer lies in the quirks of European governing body UEFA's qualification process. Sweden drew two and lost four of its six group games, finishing in last place, but was one of the countries given a second chance to qualify for the World Cup via its previous results in the Nations League competition in 2024-25. The Swedes topped their group in League C --- the competition's third tier, where they played Azerbaijan, Slovakia and Estonia --- and that ultimately got them a spot in the World Cup playoffs. There, they beat Ukraine 3-1 in the semifinals on Thursday and Poland 3-2 in the winner-takes-all match on Tuesday. Does Sweden deserve to be at the World Cup? Probably not, but they won't care.

A four-time champion won't be there ... again It's happened to Italy again. One of the great soccer nations --- a four-time World Cup winner, no less --- has somehow failed to qualify for the largest World Cup in history. Sixteen teams will arrive from Europe, and Italy will not be one of them. The latest failure, following a penalty-shootout loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina, has sparked another bout of introspection for the national sport. We've been here before, of course, after the Azzurri missed out on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup after defeats in the playoffs. A poor era of players? Bad governance? Picking the wrong coach? Rotten luck? Plenty of reasons have been given for Italy's soccer slump that has culminated in what the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper labeled "The third apocalypse."

No Italy, but Italian coaches Several Italian coaches will be at the World Cup with their adopted countries. Vincenzo Montella led Turkey to a win over Kosovo in their playoff final, adding World Cup qualification to reaching the quarterfinals at the 2024 European Championship. Fabio Cannavaro was hired last October by Uzbekistan, after the central Asian nation qualified for its first World Cup. Cannavaro captained Italy to the title in 2006, which was the last time the Azzurri won a knockout stage game at the World Cup. Carlo Ancelotti took charge of Brazil last May, weeks before the Italy job became vacant when Luciano Spalletti was fired. Storied coach Claudio Ranieri declined the job and it went to Gennaro Gattuso, another key player on the 2006 title-winning team. Italy's latest failure means it still has not reached a World Cup since one of its most famous fans, Gianni Infantino, became president of tournament organizer FIFA in 2016. Infantino was born in Switzerland but to Italian parents.

Iran heading for the U.S. Instead of going to watch Italy's game in Bosnia on Tuesday, Infantino's private jet landed in the Turkish coastal resort Antalya to be with Iran players and officials. It was their first face-to-face meeting since bombing of Iran by the United States and Israel started Feb. 28. The FIFA leader stayed to watch a 5-0 rout of Costa Rica. Getting the Iran delegation safely and diplomatically into the U.S. in June to play its three group-stage games as planned is likely FIFA's biggest challenge before the World Cup. FIFA and Infantino clearly intend Iran to play its games as scheduled in Los Angeles and Seattle. Iran's team also wants to play at the World Cup but Iranian state officials have demanded that its games be moved to Mexico. For now, Iran is set for the World Cup even as its domestic league --- where most of its team plays --- is suspended because of the war.

There will be four newcomers on soccer's biggest stage Uzbekistan, Jordan, Cape Verde and Curaao: Welcome to the World Cup. An enlarged tournament naturally opens the door for some fresh faces around the soccer world and there will be four of them this year --- each with their own special stories. Curaao, for example, is the smallest nation by population ever to qualify, with about 156,000 people living in the tiny Caribbean island country. Third on the list is Cape Verde, an archipelago of volcanic islands off the western coast of Africa. Away from the debutants, there's Congo, an African nation battered by conflict in its mineral-rich eastern region. It is back at the World Cup 52 years after its only previous appearance --- when it was called Zaire.

Visas for visiting fans The U.S. State Department staff likely saw their workload increase overnight Tuesday. Just 10 weeks before the World Cup starts, fans from six newly qualified national teams --- including Iraq, Turkey and Congo --- will now apply for visas to enter the U.S. They were promised a fast-track service by U.S. President Donald Trump known as a "FIFA Pass," where people with World Cup tickets get prioritized appointments. The six national soccer federations, also including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic and Sweden, now get allocations from FIFA of several thousand tickets for each of their World Cup games. These typically are distributed to especially loyal fans who attend all or most qualifying games. Iraq and Congo qualified Tuesday by beating Bolivia and Jamaica, who shaped to be less complicated challenges for issuing visitor visas. However, Congo is not on a long list of African countries whose nationals must post a visa bond of up to $15,000 to guard against overstays in the U.S. Fans from Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia are among those who will have to post a visa bond in order to come and see their teams in the U.S. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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