Having been told that his job would be under review once the European qualification process was completed, Rob Page has been an even more beleaguered figure in recent days. I’m not as critical of the Wales manager as some are, but I’d reached the stage where I wouldn’t have minded a change at the top if we didn’t qualify for the 2024 Euros.
Whatever the outcome regarding qualification though, Page will be able to remember a night against Croatia where the last thing you could say about his team was that they played in a way that suggested they wanted the manager out – in fact, it was quite the opposite as they gave absolutely everything while also playing with an attacking fluency and vibrancy that has not been seen since Bale and Ramsey were in their pomp.
Bale’s days of wearing the red shirt are in the past now, Ramsey will be missing for club and country for at least a couple of months and it’s worth remembering that the player probably regarded as the closest thing we have to a replacement for those two Welsh greats was missing as well – Brennan Johnson, newly signed for Spurs, was unavailable through injury.
Nevertheless, Wales were able to deservedly beat the team ranked number six in the world, the team which reached the World Cup Final five years ago, the team who were World Cup Semi Finalists less than a year ago, by 2-1 at a raucous Cardiff City Stadium tonight.
That ground has had some great occasions to celebrate in recent years in international football – the 1-0 wins over Belgium and Ukraine and the night when Ramsey got two as we qualified for Euro 2020 by beating Hungary spring to mind, but for sheer entertainment value, thrills and tension, I’d say this was the best of the lot.
In saying that, this was a good time to be facing Croatia, they are an aging team with a few good young players breaking through, but, there doesn’t seem to be that nucleus of good quality twenty five to thirty year olds which any successful team needs. There were also important players missing through injury for the Croats and alarm bells started ringing for them with their 1-0 home loss three days ago to a Turkey side who are all but assured of winning the group after their 4-0 win over Latvia tonight.
Turkey are on sixteen points with just the one game left to play next month and then it’s us and Croatia with ten points but two matches to play, with Armenia, who looked much better bets for a top two finish than us back in June after their 4-2 win here, on seven after their surprising 2-0 loss in Latvia on Thursday.
Back in March, Wales grabbed an unlikely and completely undeserved point in Croatia thanks to Nathan Broadhead’s equaliser in added time and that goal takes on far more significance now after today’s win because we’re going to finish above them if we can beat Armenia and Turkey next month – six points and we will qualify without the need for the Play Offs and, amazingly, it will be Croatia left sweating in third place.
The Welsh team was much as expected with a back three and wing backs, but, perhaps, the surprise was that David Brooks joined Harry Wilson in supporting Kieffer Moore with Dan James among the subs.
Brooks was outstanding early on though as his vision and creativity was instrumental in a quick start which had the visitors, who had won their last five away qualifiers, gasping for breath as some of their elder statesmen were left showing their age.
Wilson, winning his fiftieth cap ten years to the day since his debut as a teenager in a draw in Belgium was the main threat with a desperate block thwarting him after a sweeping Welsh move, Brooks then sent him through on goal only for Vida to bring him down with the defender grateful the card he was shown was yellow not red.
Goalkeeper Livakovic had made one or two desperate blocking saves already, but this was nothing compared to one he produced to turn Wilson’s resultant free kick aside for a corner and then there was another similar save to deny Neco Williams shortly afterwards.
Croatia offered nothing in reply and their discomfort was shown by the three changes they made at half time.
However, the visitors were caught cold within two minutes of the restart as Moore contested Danny Ward’s long kick and Brooks played a defence splitting pass through to Wilson who cooly lobbed Livakovic from the edge of. the penalty area.
Wales were worth more than a one goal lead and justice was done on the hour when Dan James, on as a sub for Brooks, crossed and Wilson glanced in a near post header – it looked a fine finish, but who cared when replays showed that the ball had come off the back of his head and back before finding the net.
James almost made it three as he cut in and shot just wide from the corner of the area, but Wales had put so much into the first three quarters of the game that it wasn’t a shock when the balance of power shifted in the last one.
The thirty eight year old Luka Modric came into his own in this period and became the most influential player on the pitch as the Croats played some of their traditional short passing attacking around the edge of the penalty area which has had Welsh sides chasing shadows in some of their frequent competitive encounters down the years.
By and large, Wales coped with the pressure well this time (a word for Jordan James who I thought was superb especially when Croatia had the ball), but they will have been annoyed to have conceded a cheap goal from a set piece when a corner was an inch or two too high for Moore to clear on the near post and the ball glanced off his head to Pasalic who scored from close range.
Ward’s sure handling helped Wales through a stomach churning finale to confirm a great win made all the sweeter because it was so unexpected.
It’s been a good few days for Welsh football, the under21s stayed at the top of their qualifying group by drawing 1-1 in the Czech Republic as they fought back from being outplayed in the first half to equalise deep into added time thanks to a sumptuous twenty yard volley by City’s Cian Ashford who had come on as a sub three minutes earlier.
There are seven City players involved with the under 19s who are in the midst of a tremendously tight European qualification group with England, Austria and Montenegro. Wales and Austria played out a goalless draw in their first game while England v Montenegro also finished 0-0. In their second game, Wales scored first against England, but were pegged back as the match finished 1-1, while Austria got the only goal in the other game to put themselves in the driving seat, but with two sides to qualify for the Elite round, Wales will know that a win over Montenegro will take them through.
In the Highadmit South Wales Alliance Premier Division, Treherbert Boys and Girls Club stay top after a 5-2 win at bottom of the table Dinas Powys, but Ton Pentre will be fearing that they face another relegation fight after a 2-1 home loss to Cwmaman.
