It’s just as well Croatia rendered the outcome of tonight’s Wales v Turkey game at Cardiff City useless by beating Armenia 1-0 in Zagreb to ensure their qualification for the 2024 Euros because if they hadn’t managed that single goal, Turkey 2023, could have been added to Scotland at Anfield 1977 and Ninian Park 1985 and Romania at the National Stadium in 1993 as occasions where penalty kicks have haunted Wales on nights when qualifications for the latter stages of major tournaments were on offer.
If it were not for Ante Budimir’s forty third minute goal which gave the Croats the win they needed, Matej Jug of Slovenia would have joined Robert Wurtz of France, whose absolute howler of a decision when he awarded Scotland a penalty after their striker Joe Jordan punched a long throw in into the Welsh area, and Dutchman Dan Keizer who awarded the Scots another well dodgy penalty after what was a clear case of ball to hand, in a refereeing Hall of Shame of officials who had thwarted Wales with their ineptitude.
Therefore, I’ll try not to take up too much time running down Mr Jug, but it’s hard not to be critical of someone who, in the first half, showed a marked reluctance to point to the penalty spot in favour of Wales but, in the second half, seemed only too willing to do so in Turkey’s favour.
Wales had three shouts for a penalty, two of them involving Brennan Johnson. I was critical of Johnson for his anonymous showing in Armenia on Saturday, but he was much better here and was one of the stars of a dominant first forty minutes or so from Wales which, at times, matched the intensity and quality which proved too much for Croatia last month.
The first penalty claim involved Harry Wilson, but the first of the pair of possible fouls on Johnson was the stronger shout for me. The Spurs striker was caught by a needless tackle by Samat Akaydin close to the bye line and it fell into the I’ve seen them given category, but the Turkish defender did make contact with the ball and so I could just about see why no penalty was given.
However, when Akaydin came through the back of Johnson a few minutes later with an even more rash challenge, it seemed a stonewall penalty and I can only assume the referee’s view was blocked, because there’s no other reason I can think of why he decided not to point to the spot.
Wales were 1-0 up at the time of all three incidents and they needed the security of a second goal while a rattled looking and undisciplined Turkish side were very much second best.
Eventually, Turkey were able to start playing the sort of football that won the group for them, as well as a 3-2 triumph in Germany on Friday, and the five minutes leading to half time saw them pushing Wales back for the first time.
The second half saw the visitors continue their improvement as Wales could not recapture the fervour, urgency and no little quality that had carried them through the opening stages of the game. Turkey were the more likely goalscorers through the second period , but they still needed considerable help from Mr Jug to come up with an equaliser as, like so many of their longer passes into the Welsh box, an over hit ball was on its way through to Danny Ward. There was no chance of Kenan Yildiz reaching it, but he went down under the slightest of touches from Ben Davies and a penalty was given.
Turkey’s improvement could be more or less traced back to the moment that Yusuf Yaziki was introduced as a first half tactical substitute and it was he who calmly sent Ward the wrong way to level things up.
Spectators and viewers could be forgiven for thinking VAR was not being used on the night, but the various errors were compounded by the fact that it was available, but the officials in charge of it decided to sit on their hands all through the game. While it’s arguable whether VAR would have intervened in the penalty Turkey were given because it involved a decision to award one because of a harsh interpretation of the laws by the referee, the second foul (it was undoubtedly a foul) on Johnson was the sort of case VAR was brought into being for – it was so obviously a clear error by the on pitch official.
Wales’ goal had arrived as early as the seventh minute when Harry Wilson’s good pass found Neco Williams who drove in from the left to steer a calm and accurate right foot shot from twenty yards well beyond keeper Cakir (who had to go off injured after thirty five minutes) and into the corner of the net.
Wales spent the next half an hour or so well on top, but there wasn’t really that much goalmouth action to show for it and it was more the regular penalty shouts that were a measure of the home side’s superiority.
Indeed, Wales probably came closer to scoring again in two second half incidents which, first, saw Johnson’s fine angled shot turned aside by replacement keeper Bayindir and, second, the same player’s late goal ruled out by a close, but correct, offside decision.
Wales now go into the Play Offs in March where they’ll be home to one of Iceland, Finland or Ukraine with a final then against Poland or Estonian five days later if they win with the venue to be decided in a draw in Switzerland on Thursday. I’d give us a decent chance of beating Iceland or Finland, but I’m not so sure about Ukraine after we used up more than our fair share of luck in beating them in the game which secured World Cup qualification. Poland are not the team they were, but would fancy their chances against us home and away, while Estonia have shown that they are hardly minnows when we’ve played them in the past, but a failure to beat them with a place in the Finals at stake would, surely, see the end of Robert Page’s time as manager of his country..
At age group levels, Wales under 21s played better in losing to group number one seeds Denmark at Rodney Parade on Monday than they did in beating Iceland at the same venue a few days earlier.
Maybe another draw between the teams to match their opening fixture in the group would have been a just outcome, but the Danes scored in the first five and last five minutes to win before Cian Ashford, on as a sub, replied for Wales with the last kick of the game after the Danish keeper had done well to keep out Rubin Colwill’s free kick. Colwill was only a sub and he was introduced as one of three half time changes by Matthew Jones that saw Eli King being one of those withdrawn.
At under 17 level, Welsh qualification for the next stage of the latest Euros was secured by a 4-0 win over Gibraltar at Leckwith earlier today. From City’s dominance of the under 17 squad which competed in the Finals earlier this year, they only have two squad members this time around for the current qualification process – Jac Thomas and Ronan Kpakio.
Paul, compadre,
Thanks for doing the hard yards here.
The first thing I want to say is that last night, one of Paul’s favourites had a rather good game… I refer to Joe Rodon, a player I had never previously been convinced by.
Another player I think overrated – Ethan Ampadu – also had a decent game, though I still bemoan the fact that every third tackle from him is a gratuitous foul.
But the star of the show was clearly Jordan James… it was his ‘coming of age’ game.
As for the Welsh ‘penalties”… I will admit that with another referee, all three could have been given. The push on Johnson from behind was the only one I would have granted, but as you say Paul, the mistake was down to the lino and VAR, as the ref was unsighted.
The ref though had a good view of the obvious sharp push – hardly the ‘slightest of touches’ even if the Turkish recipient responded as though shot out of a cannon – and rightly pointed to the spot.
So when I think of bad referees, last night’s Slovenian was nowhere near the psycho that Rudi Glockner, that blasted East German, was, back in the Battle of Ninian Park in 1976.
https://welshfootballfans.com/eatsleepfootyrepeat/r26726hyjyncfmw2xp8yz4cgtbedd2-45654-w5wpk-frssf-ffcrc-kkp97-hnjtt-drwcy-c3rew-2z4eb-6gtz3-g4pls-saht2-hsfkk-gsr8r-y84hp
Hello Paul, Dai and all those who follow what is surely the most reasoned summaries of matches involving our boys in blue and the nation’s in red.
Without VAR, or even occasionally with it, debates will also be subjective on matters concerning decisions on disputed “penalties”. But what I want to know relates to the actions or non actions of the linesmen or whatever they are called these days. I thought their attendance was there to aid referees, but those on parade last night opted out of such responsibilities. As far as the assault on Johnson was concerned, it was so blatant that even if the referee was allegedly unsighted (?), what was his colleague who would have had a side on view watching. His ‘phone?
In the end it made no difference sadly, so once more to the play offs. EUFA, home games only please.
Thanks both, regarding the players Dai mentions, I think Rodon is a case whereby his poor performances of the summer were down to him not playing club football on a regular basis and now he is doing that, he’s back to what I’d say is his normal level in international football. With Ampadu, I watched him on Tuesday and saw evidence of a more mature player, but then there are still those fouls Dai mentions and I recall a truly ridiculous, especially for someone with his scoring record, thirty five yard shot in the closing minutes on Saturday. Jordan James was superb in the first half especially on Tuesday and, although he wasn’t great on Saturday, I’d still rate him as, possibly, our best outfield player.
First thing to say about the penalties is that BJA is spot on about the linesmen. Moving on to the individual cases, I’d say that if we accept Dai’s contention that Turkey’s penalty was a legitimate one (which I do not!), then, surely, all three of the Welsh ones have to be penalties as well? In fact, I agree with Dai about the first two not being penalties, but, to be clear, the third one is an absolute stonewaller of the kind VAR was supposed to eliminate – a clear and obvious error was made by the referee in that case. At this point, I should explain that me saying the ref was unsighted was my way of trying to explain why he’d made such an awful mistake. Looking at the replays, it’s possible he didn’t have a clear view of what BJA calls an assault, but I don’t know for sure that he was. Either way, there seems little point in VAR if they are going o sit on their hands when such an obvious error is made.
Dai’s mention of the egregious Rudi Glockner (a World Cup Final ref, it should be remembered) brings back vivid memories. I was at that Yugoslavia quarter-final, and something I distinctly remember was – as Glockner’s decisions became increasingly bizarre – the Ninian Park crowd picking up a chant of “Sieg Heil”. The ‘sophisticated’ political justification for this Nazi salutation was that, because Rudi was from Communist East Germany, he’d be all the more upset at the taunt.
Yes, Lindsay, you bring back powerful memories. I was at the game with my then girlfriend, a wonderful pretty Mexican girl, Socorro Reyes. She was doing two terms teaching Spanish in Porth County… then going back to her home in Mexico City.
Mexicans were thin on the ground in the Rhondda in April 1976 when we met, and thus she was seen as something of an exotic creation by my friends…who were much amused by the unromantic fact that I chose our first date to be the snorefest which was Wales v N. Ireland at the Vetch.
But I more than made up for it the following month when we sat in the Canton Stand and watched amazed as a riot broke out… culminating in that poor – subsequently hospitalised – policeman getting a corner flag thrown like an assagai into his chest.
I don’t think Socorro saw another football match in the rest of her life… it had disturbed her so.
I guess I do not have much luck with taking the Fair Sex to football. My dear wife Larissa and I will celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary next Monday 27th, and the first game she saw in her life was when she was working as a hospital doctor in South Wales, when we sat together just yards from the two brothers who fired that infamous marine flare with its fatal result.
She swore that night to never attend another football game… and she has kept her word.
Changing the subject…
… I have just seen Sam Kerr score a delightful hat-trick. The third goal was the best goal I have seen all season.
And here is at tip to all MAYAns… all the UEFA Women’s Champions League games are LIVE free to air via DAZN on YouTube. Well done to DAZN.
TTFN,
Dai.
Glockner’s decision to award Yugoslavia a penalty that day was much more justified than the one against Ben Davies and the one not to award a penalty for the “assault” on Tuesday in my opinion. In fact, having watched quite a bit of the game while I was writing my book about the 76/76 season, it struck me that Glockner got most of the big calls right in that game. My recollection is that it was more his general favouring of Yugoslavia in the more “mundane” aspects of the game which was the real problem, although, of course, the disallowing of goals by and awarding of penalties against the team the large majority of the crowd are supporting are always going to be flashpoints in matches where they are already unhappy with the general handling of the game by the officials.