Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland suffered heartbreaking nights as their 2026 World Cup dreams came to a crashing halt.
All three sides were in UEFA playoff action and were looking to join England and Scotland this summer but against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Czechia, their dreams all ended in the same evening.
The Republic of Ireland raced into a 2-0 lead in Prague, with Troy Parrott scoring from the penalty spot after 19 minutes and goalkeeper Matej Kovar scoring an own goal four minutes later.
But a moment of stupidity from Ryan Manning when pulling back the shirt of Ladislav Krejcí in the box just moments after play restarted from Republic of Ireland's second goal, gifted Czechia a way back in and Patrik Schick took full advantage.
Jayson Molumby came within inches of making it 3-1 when his effort hit the inside of the post and bounced out and heading into the final five minutes it seemed Republic of Ireland would be heading through.
Then Krejci jumped highest to head home from a corner and the game went to extra time and penalties. Caoimhín Kelleher made the first save and his side led 3-2, before Finn Azaz and Alan Browne both hit weak attempts at Kolar and it was Czechia who advanced.
Wales suffered much the same fate, with Dan James scoring a beauty to put them 1-0 up after 50 minutes and that for much of the second half looked like enough.
Then, in the same minute as Krejci scored for Czechia, Edin Dzeko scored for Bosnia and they too took the game to extra time and then penalties.
Karl Darlow saved the very first penalty but there was then a horrendous miss from Brennan Johnson and Neco Williams saw his effort saved and it was Bosnia who went through.
In Bergamo, Italy were clearly the better team but Northern Ireland did not make it easy for them and it took 56 minutes before Sandro Tonali finally broke the deadlock.
He then turned provider 10 minutes from time when finding Moise Kean with an elaborate pass over the top and this time Kean was able to put it away off the post and send Italy to the playoff final, where they will now meet Bosnia for a place in the World Cup.