Decisive day for struggling four-time champion Italy in World Cup playoff at Bosnia

It’s a decisive day for one of soccer’s historic powers.

Struggling Italy visits Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European qualifying playoffs on Tuesday with the four-time champion desperate not to miss out on a third straight World Cup.

Italy was eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia in qualifying playoffs for the last two World Cups and has not appeared at soccer’s biggest event since 2014.

In last week’s European playoff semifinals, Italy beat Northern Ireland 2-0. Bosnia eliminated Wales in a penalty shootout.

Tuesday's other European playoff finals are: Sweden vs. Poland; Kosovo vs. Turkey; and the Czech Republic vs. Denmark.

All four matches are scheduled to kickoff at 8:45 p.m. local time (1845 GMT; 2:45 p.m. ET).

Italy’s World Cup struggles began soon after its last title in 2006: The Azzurri were eliminated from the 2014 and 2018 finals at the group stage.

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Italy's head coach Gennaro Gattuso walks on the pitch ahead of Tuesday's World Cup playoff final soccer match against Bosnia, at the Bilino Polje stadium, in Zenica, Bosnia, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

From left to right, Italy's Matteo Politano, Leonardo Spinazzola, and Manuel Locatelli walk on the pitch ahead of Tuesday's World Cup playoff final soccer match against Bosnia, at the Bilino Polje stadium, in Zenica, Bosnia, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Bosnia's captain Edin Dzeko gestures during the training session ahead of the World Cup playoff final soccer match against Italy, at the Butmir training centre, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Italy's Marco Palestra, right, walks on the pitch ahead of Tuesday's World Cup playoff final soccer match against Bosnia, at the Bilino Polje stadium, in Zenica, Bosnia, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Italy's head coach Gennaro Gattuso listens to the questions of journalists during the press conference ahead of the World Cup playoff final soccer match against Bosnia in Zenica, Bosnia, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

BERLIN (AP) — A humpback whale that got stranded in shallow coastal waters in the Baltic Sea has swum free again, and experts hope that they won't have to make another rescue attempt.

The whale, which is 12-15 meters (39-49 feet) long, swam free late Monday from the spot near the German port of Wismar where it had been stuck since the weekend, regional officials said. It initially headed toward the harbor but then turned toward the open sea.

The whale was sighted again off Wismar on Tuesday morning and wasn't stuck, the Ocean Museum Germany said.

An effort last week to rescue the whale from an underwater sandbank at Timmendorfer Strand, a nearby resort town, eventually succeeded with the help of an excavator. But the apparently exhausted whale was soon in trouble again, albeit in somewhat deeper water, and officials banked on giving it peace and quiet to gather enough strength to swim away.

The drama captivated Germans, with crowds gathering on shore while media have sent detailed updates on its progress and streamed live video from the scene.

But the whale is still far from its natural habitat, and faces a huge effort to find its way to the Atlantic Ocean through the North Sea.

“The whale swimming free yesterday is a first very good sign, but the way to the North Sea is still long and we can only keep our fingers crossed that it makes it there,” Burkard Baschek, the scientific director of the Ocean Museum Germany and the scientific coordinator of the rescue effort, told ZDF television.

He said it wouldn't be practical to try to escort the whale on that journey of several hundred kilometers (miles), pointing to whales' ability to dive. “That means that in principle we can only hope that it will make it under its own steam,” he added.

No tracker has been attached to the whale because its skin is in a poor state after long exposure to the relatively low salt concentration of the Baltic.

The whale was first spotted swimming in the region on March 3.

It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea. Some experts say the animal may have lost its way when it swam after a shoal of herring, or during migration.

Three water birds sit on a humpback whale in the Wismar Bay near Wismar, Germany, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (Philip Dulian/dpa via AP)

A police inflatable boat approaches a humpback whale lying in the Bay of Wismar, Germany, Monday, March 30, 2026. (Philip Dulian/dpa via AP)