A 5-1 win for Wales tonight against a pretty awful Belarus side took them three points ahead of third placed Czech Republic while also boosting their goal difference to plus five, two better than the Czechs.
The Play Off place that had been deemed a certainty following Wales’ Nations League group win last year actually became that on Thursday when Spain won in Greece, but whether the one off Semi Final in March will be at home or away will now probably depend on whether we finish second or third in the qualifying group.
With a three point and slight goal difference advantage, Wales would be very confident of finishing second under normal circumstances, but the fact that our final opponents are group winners and world number ones Belgium, combined with the Czechs being at home to Estonia means that it could definitely be argued that if the two games go as the rankings say they should, then it will be third place and an away Play Off for us.
One small bonus is that Estonia look a much more competitive outfit as the group comes to an end than they did at the start of it – we were reminded of that with a 0-0 draw at home and a rather fortunate single goal win away and they were certainly not embarrassed tonight in Belgium by a 3-1 defeat. So, the Czechs cannot expect an easy three points on Tuesday, but the reality has to be that they’ll win and we’ll need to avoid defeat against a Belgium side missing some key players and showing some recent signs that they may not quite be the power they have been for around a decade..
Tonight will probably end up being remembered most for Gareth Bale’s one hundredth international appearances. Bale became the second man to reach that landmark after Chris Gunter and the Real Madrid man, who was playing his first game since August, predictably did not last the ninety minutes.
Bale was initially reported by Sky’s commentators as having suffered a calf injury that would keep him out on Tuesday and, probably, the rest of the year, but interviewed after the match, he said his withdrawal was a precaution and he hoped to be okay for Tuesday.
To be honest, Bale looked like someone feeling his way back after injury in the forty five minutes he played and it would probably be expecting too much for him to be too influential on Tuesday if fit, but I’m talking about the best Welsh player of my footballing life time here and it would by typical of the man if he came up with the goal which clinched second place.
Wales’ recent history shows plenty of wins by single goal margins, usually 1-0, so the possibility that Belarus could prove to be the problem that Estonia turned out to be at Cardiff City Stadium two months ago could not be discounted, but Robert Page’s selection suggested that Wales were taking the win for granted as he picked a very attacking line up despite the fact we played with a back three of Ampadu, Rodon and Davies.
However, flanking them were two genuine wing backs in Connor Roberts and Neco Williams, with Allen as the sole defensive midfielder with Ramsey and Wilson in front of him and Bale and James playing up front although it was all pretty fluid with players given licence to wander.
In the event, Wales, while being slipshod in their passing at times, won as easily as the score suggests, even if they were given plenty of help by an erratic goalkeeping performance from Belarus’ Sergei Chernik.
Wales started in a busy fashion which suggested that they wanted an early goal, but nobody could have been expecting it to arrive inside two minutes – they’d already forced a corner on the left before their first one on the right was half cleared to Ben Davies whose well struck volley from the edge of the penalty area was parried by Chernik into the path of Ramsey who showed a striker’s instinct to avoid falling offside, but was still in a position to tap the loose ball in from no more than two or three yards out.
Being a generous soul, I tended to absolve Chernik of any blame for this goal, but I’m sure there are those who think differently and there couldn’t be many who didn’t blame him for the second Welsh goal on the twentyminute mark as Williams, Wales’ best player on the night for me, cleverly aimed for the near post with his shot from fifteen yards, but it really should have been saved, rather than roll gently over the line courtesy of a poorly positioned and heavy footed goalkeeper.
It felt like Wales could be on for a really big score at that time, but they didn’t really kick on for the rest of the first half and it came as a surprise when, minutes into the second half, defender Ruslan Yudenkov, under pressure from Bale’s replacement Brennan Johnson, got into a mess trying to defend a long ball and handled inside the penalty area.
As for the penalty, I think I have plenty of valid reasons down the years for always thinking Ramsey’s going to miss before he takes one, but this one was one of his better efforts as he calmly rolled the ball into the opposite corner to the one Chernik dived towards.
It was a night where the wing backs, rather than likes of Wilson and James, posed the greater threat- Roberts was wide of the mark twice when he might have felt he should have scored and Williams almost added to his first half effort with a great shot from twenty five yards that rippled the top of the net, but the fourth goal didn’t arrive from any of these sources as Davies shouldered in his first goal for his country in his sixty eighth appearance as Chernik started to come for a Wilson corner, then stopped as the Spurs man’s header went past him at no great speed
Belarus then scored the best goal of the night when substitute Konstevoy beat Danny Ward all ends up from twenty yards, but Wales had the last word as Robert’s touched on a Wilson free kick which bounced past Chernik in a manner which suggested to me that, once again, the keeper might have done better.
So, Wales move on Tuesday and the Belgians and while it could be said that the prize for avoiding defeat is not that great, but we’re talking about a tournament we’ve only ever qualified for once here (even then it was as much down to luck as anything) and I’d say Wales need all of the advantages they can get if they are to make it through to a tournament which, of course, will be taking place this time next year as a consequence of FIFA’s barking mad decision to stage it in Qatar – the wrong venue for reasons beyond its climate.
On what has been a good international break so far for Wales, the under 17s went down 2-0 to Portugal today, which was a predictable outcome, but maybe not as bad as I feared it would be – Cole Fleming was the one City player involved from the start I believe.
The match between the other two sides in this week long qualifying tournament saw Ukraine beat Kazakhstan 3-0, which means that they go above Wales into second place on goal difference, but unless Ukraine can beat the Portugese in their last match, Wales now know that a win over Kazakhstan (no points so far and a goals record of none for and eight against) will take them into the Elite round.
As for local football, Blaenrhondda FC were the only ones of the three Rhondda clubs I “support” to play this weekend and they cemented their position as the Highadmit South Wales Alliance’s Premier Division draw specialists with a 1-1 stalemate at Canton Liberals, but it was a very creditable result given that their opponents will go top of the table if they win their games in hand and they had a 100 per cent winning record from six games at home before yesterday.
It’s the time of year again when I ask readers of Mauve and Yellow Army to make a contribution towards its running costs. Before I go into detail about this, I should, once again, offer my sincere thanks to all of you who have helped ensure the future of the blog over the past three years through a mixture of monthly payments via Patreon, monthly Standing Orders into my bank account and once a year payments via bank transfer, PayPal, cheque and cash.
The first time I made this request for assistance, it was prompted by a need for funds to pay for three yearly web hosting costs which, frankly, I was in no position to meet following my move of house a few months earlier. However, I’m pleased to say that, this time around, the web hosting bill was settled back in June with none of the problems there were back in 2018.
Therefore, any monies received this year will go towards other running costs and, although it’s too early yet to make any formal commitments despite so many of the pandemic restrictions in Wales being lifted recently, I am minded to do another review of a season from the past book to follow on from “Real Madrid and all that” (copies now also available om match days at the reduced price of £8.99 from the Trust Office, near gate five) which looked back on the 1970/71 campaign. At the moment 1975/76, the first promotion season I experienced, looks to be favourite for the book treatment, which would mean a lot more trips back and forth to Cardiff than my finances have become used to over the past year and a half – hopefully, the majority of them will not have to be made via Radyr Cheyne!
As always, the blog will still be free to read for anyone who chooses not to make a donation towards its running costs and, apart from the one in the top right hand corner which is to do with Google Ads, you will never have to bother about installing an ad blocker to read this site because there will never be any.
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