Serbia oust Norway, advances to Euro 2020 playoff finals

Sergej Milinković-Savić scored twice to lift Serbia into the European Championship playoff finals with a 2-1 extra-time win over Norway on Thursday.

Serbia kept Norway’s feared forward Erling Haaland quiet and found its own unlikely threat in the Lazio midfielder who had not previously scored for the national team.

Milinković-Savić was on hand to score from close range after a free kick into the penalty area in the 82nd minute, before Norway leveled through Mathias Normann’s angled low shot in the 88th.

Norway's Erling Braut Haaland, center, and Serbia's Stefan Mitrovic, left, and Nikola Milenkovic compete for the ball during the Euro 2020 playoff semifinal soccer match between Norway and Serbia at Ullevaal Stadium, in Oslo, Norway, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. (Fredrik VarfjellNTB scanpix via AP)

An exquisite piece of skill won the game in the 102nd, as Milinković-Savić tricked Norway goalkeeper Rune Jarstein with a deft, slow chip from the edge of the six-yard box.

Serbia will host Scotland in one of four playoff finals on Nov. 12 that will complete the 24-nation Euro 2020 lineup. Scotland beat Israel in a penalty shootout in Glasgow after a 0-0 draw.

The eight playoff semifinals played Thursday included four nations that will host games at the Euro 2020 tournament.

Serbia's national football team cheers after victory during the Euro 2020 playoff semifinal soccer match between Norway and Serbia at Ullevaal Stadium, in Oslo, Norway, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. (Fredrik VarfjellNTB scanpix via AP)

Hungary and Scotland advanced to stay in contention for getting two home games in the group stage next June. Ireland and Romania were eliminated.

The playoffs involve teams who won their Nations League groups, or had a high placing, two years ago but did not advance to Euro 2020 directly from the traditional qualifying groups last year.

The games were originally scheduled in March before UEFA shut down its competitions and postponed Euro 2020 by one year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Scotland's Kenny McLean, right, celebrates with Scotland goalkeeper David Marshall after scoring from a penalty shot during the Euro 2020 playoff semifinal soccer match between Scotland and Israel, at the Hampden stadium in Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. (AP PhotoScott Heppell)

LEAGUE A

Iceland recaptured the feelgood spirit of its run to the Euro 2016 quarterfinals in beating visiting Romania 2-1.

Gylfi Sigurdsson scored twice with low, left-foot shots in the first half, before Romania closed the gap with a penalty midway through the second.

Hungary's players celebrate their side's second goal scored by Hungary's Zsolt Kalmar during the Euro 2020 playoff semifinal soccer match between Bulgaria and Hungary at the Vasil Levski stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Thursday Oct. 8, 2020. (AP PhotoAnton Uzunov)

Iceland goes to Hungary, which eased to a 3-1 in at Bulgaria, for the top-tier playoff final at the Puskas Stadium in Budapest.

The winner will join the toughest-looking Euro 2020 group, with defending champion Portugal plus the past two World Cup winners, France and Germany. It will be played in Munich and Budapest.

LEAGUE B

Northern Ireland's Jonny Evans, left, duels for the ball with Bosnia's Edin Dzeko during the Euro 2020 playoff semifinals soccer match between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Ireland at the Grbavica stadium, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. (AP PhotoKemal Softic)

Penalty shootouts decided both games, with Northern Ireland winning one and Ireland losing the other.

Northern Ireland beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 4-3 in the shootout after a 1-1 draw in Sarajevo. Bosnia took the lead through Rade Krunić’s goal in the 14th and Niall McGinn leveled in the 53rd.

Slovakia and Ireland were goalless in Bratislava, before the home team won the shootout 4-2.

Northern Ireland will host Slovakia on Nov. 12. The winner enters the group based in Bilbao and Dublin with Spain, Poland and Sweden.

LEAGUE C

Two more tense games went to extra time in Oslo and Glasgow.

Serbia, which played at the 2018 World Cup, was an outlier in the Nations League third tier two years ago and proved too strong for a young Norwegian team.

Scotland was pressed back for much of a 0-0 draw against Israel, then struck a post from the last attack in extra time.

The Scots scored all five penalties in the shootout, and goalkeeper David Marshall made one save.

Serbia will host the final in Belgrade. The winner on Nov. 12 goes into the London-Glasgow group with England, Croatia and the Czech Republic.

LEAGUE D

Kosovo’s quest to reach the European Championship at the first attempt ended with a loss at North Macedonia.

World soccer’s newest national team, joining UEFA and FIFA in 2016, was beaten 2-1 in Skopje with all the goals coming in the first half.

Kosovo trailed to an own goal, leveled though defender Florent Hadergjonaj’s 25-meter chip into an unguarded goal, and was beaten by Darko Velkoski’s 33rd-minute header.

North Macedonia next travels to Georgia to see which country will make a Euros debut.

Georgia held off Belarus 1-0 after getting a seventh-minute penalty earned and scored by Tornike Okriashvili.

The winner on Nov. 12 will join a Euro 2020 group with the Netherlands, Ukraine and Austria. Games will be played in Amsterdam and Bucharest.

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RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)