Before tonight, Croatia had never lost a home European Championship qualifier in their history. They still haven’t, but Wales became only the second team to have returned from the country which has finished second and third in the last two World Cups without losing after their totally unexpected 1-1 draw in Split tonight (edit, the stat about Croatia having only failed to win once in a home Euros qualifier is wrong. It was reported on the BBC and in the national press, but it’s wrong, Croatia are unbeaten in home Euro’s qualifiers, but, in fact, Wales are the ninth side to avoid defeat in that country – not as brilliant a result then, but still an impressive one under the circumstances)..
Unexpected is one way of describing the match, strange would be another and no doubt the home fans in the sell out crowd would be thinking that floodlight robbery would be a term that would cover what happened to their team.
This was a game which would have ended up as a comfortable home win about eight times out of ten given how it panned out in terms of balance of play and chances. However, Wales deserve a great deal of credit for the way they hung on after conceding just before the half hour mark and their depleted team can take great heart from what has to be up there with the best away results in qualifiers of recent times.
Welsh morale took a pummeling during what was supposed to be the celebration that was the first World Cup Finals reached in sixty four years, but three flat, tired and underwhelming matches saw them depart with a single, pretty lucky, point and a feeling that it had turned out to be one tournament too far for some of the really big players who had been most responsible for what became the golden era of Welsh football.
Gareth Bale’s retirement captured all of the headlines, but Joe Allen was, in some ways, as important as the brilliant Bale, while Chris Gunter would leave a big hole in the squad, likewise Jonny Williams, who with Gunter played their part in creating the superb spirit which was so important in the 2016 campaign especially.
All four of them are not the players that they were and Bale’s reputation alone was probably keeping him in the side by the time we faced England in our final game in Qatar, but the thought of being without him and Allen especially, was a sobering one. So, the additional absence through injury of Ben Davies and Brennan Johnson, who could be described as Wales best pair of players currently, only added to the lambs to the slaughter feel that surrounded the build up to the game.
Robert Page had spoken about a more athletic approach from his side in the days preceding the match, but when only three of the team he picked could be described as current regular first team starters for their clubs, the match sharpness required at this level has to be in short supply with the result that the hoped for athleticism wasn’t there tonight. Indeed, in the first half especially, Wales looked slower and weaker than opponents who have faced the charge that they are an aging team for two or three years now.
Back in 2016, Wales had a strong nucleus of players who were regular starters at Premier League level (plus Bale at Real Madrid) in their ranks – tonight there were none. Only Ethan Ampadu on loan at Serie A team Spezia and Joe Morrell at League One Portsmouth can confidently expect to be playing every week for their clubs currently- Danny Ward was first choice in the Leicester side until recently and Connor Roberts starts most weeks for a Burnley side that is all but in the Premier League, but the likes of Nico Williams, Chris Mepham, Harry Wilson, Dan James and Keiffer Moore are very much bit part players these days and new captain Aaron Ramsey and Joe Rodon have been sitting games out lately at their French clubs.
Wales we’re also without a win in the eight matches which had followed the win over Ukraine in June and so a team that played with a back four and Ampadu sitting in front of the defence, Ramsey playing in a deeper role and Moore up front alone found themselves on the back foot from the start.
The ageless Luka Modric forced a decent save out of Ward within three minutes and, just over ten minutes later, the keeper made his best save of the night to deny Andrej Kramaric and as the pressure on the Welsh goal remained intense, I thought Ivan Perisic was unlucky to have a goal disallowed because of a foul as well.
It mattered little though because within about three minutes, Croatia were in front – Rodon and Williams added to the collection of incidents in which we looked weaker than our opponents and Kramaric steered a precise effort beyond the diving Ward from twenty yards.
Kramaric wasted a great chance shortly afterwards when he elected to shoot rather than feed the better placed Perisic and I feared for Wales at half time as they gave the impression that, far from showing athleticism, they were tiring.
Wales’ only response to the Croatian dominance came just before the break when young defender Jusko Gvardiol who seems to be linked with a different Premier League club every week, gave away a daft free kick some twenty two yards out that saw Wilson shoot not far over as the ref, who was something of a Homer, missed a fairly obvious deflection off one of the Croatian wall.
For a while, it looked like more of the same in the second half as Chelsea’s Mateo Kovokic powered his way forward only to shoot wastefully over, but Wales then went on to have their best ten minutes of the match as Williams shot just over and then Wilson’s best piece of play of the night set up a chance for James that he volleyed high and wide from a good position.
That was the signal for Page to remove Wilson and James as well as Ramsey and replace them with Nathan Broadhead and Wes Burns of League One side Ipswich plus Sorba Thomas, currently on loan at Blackburn from Huddersfield.
Moore made way for Millwall’s Tom Bradshaw currently in the form of his life soon after that, but the four newcomers felt like a downgrade on who they were replacing – one of them would end up having the last laugh at a very late stage though!
That missed James chance looked like being the moment Wales would end up regretting, but, with Croatia giving the impression they felt they’d already done enough to win, Roberts’ long throws were not always being dealt with that well by the home defence.
An outrageous angled volley on eighty two minutes by Perisic that came back off the crossbar could have given Croatia the second goal they deserv3d, but deep into added time, Roberts hurled one last throw in, Mepham, who I thought had a good game, glanced on a header and Broadhead timed his far post run perfectly to force the ball in from about five yards out.
There was still time for a heart in mouth moment as the ball fell to Perisic on the edge of the penalty area, but the shot flew straight at Ward and Wales had their unlikely, but so precious, point.
The other game I watched today was like a mirror image of the Croatia one in that it finished with the same scoreline, but this time it was the Welsh who ended up feeling luck was against them as their under 17 team drew 1-1 with Iceland at Dragon Park Newport in the second of their elite group qualification games for the Euros.
A 4-2 win over Scotland at Rodney Parade on Wednesday signaled a fine start for a Welsh squad which has eight City players within its ranks and, with Iceland and Montenegro playing out a goalless draw in their first game, Scotland’s 2-1 win over Montenegro at lunchtime meant that Wales only needed to beat Iceland to ensure a first ever appearance at the Finals with a game to spare.
For a long time it looked like Wales would get the win as they led through a goal midway through the first half only for the visitors to equalize early in the second period. Following that goal, a Welsh team featuring City’s fifteen year old Ronan Kpakio at right back, Dylan Lawlor at centreback, Luey Giles at left back and Cody Twose on the left wing (Troy Perrett also came on as a sub) pressed strongly to regain their lead and a bigger Iceland side were hanging on by the end – right at the death, Wales hit the crossbar for the second time in the game, but they had to settle for a point which means that all four sides can still finish in the top two (the eight group winners progress as well as the seven runners up with the best records).
Currently, the table has us on top with four points, Scotland on three, Iceland two and Montenegro one, but, with the Montenegrins knowing that it’s head to head records rather than goal difference which takes priority, they only need a win on Tuesday to overtake us. If we were to lose, then a win for either Scotland or Iceland when they meet on Tuesday would put us out of the competition. We know that we will qualify as group winners if we beat Montenegro and a draw would clinch a top two finish at least, but it’s going to be a nervy couple of hours next Tuesday before we find out whether this City dominated squad can achieve something no other Welsh under 17 side has.
In local football, Ton Pentre made it into the Semi Finals of the Loosemore Senior Cup with a penalty shoot out win at Aber Valley and in the Highadmit South Wales Alliance Premier League, AFC Porth’s search for a first league win of the season continues following their 4-0 home loss to a Canton Liberals team which has the best chance of overhauling top of the league Cardiff Corries. In the First division, it was a good day for Treherbert Boys and Girls Club who edged to a 2-1 win at bottom of the table Grange Albion, while their closest challengers for the title, Caerphilly Athletic were being held 3-3 at home by mid table AFC Penrhiwceiber.
Finally, there are still a few signed copies of my latest book “Tony Evans Walks on Water” available from the Trust Office (near Gate 5) on matchdays at the reduced price of £9 for Trust members.
