Having gained a draw in Serbia in their last visit to the countries which made up the former Yugoslavia, things reverted to normal for Wales this afternoon when they were beaten 2-1 by Croatia in Osijek to continue their woeful recent record in this part of the world.
In the end, the result was probably just about right because Croatia controlled much of the first period and then, effectively, won the game with a strong start to the second half as they went two goals clear. At the final whistle though, there was a definite sense of frustration for Welsh supporters because it seemed like an opportunity to pick up what might have been an invaluable point had been missed.
Much had been made before the match about how hot it was likely to be at a venue where Croatia have a superb record and with the temperature up into the 30s for most of the match, it was certainly that.
The assumption had been that the weather conditions would favour the home side, but the strong impression I gained was that it was the ageing Croat team that were affected most. Certainly, Wales came on stronger the longer both halves went on, but all this did in the end was intensify the frustration at how sloppily they had begun them.
Right from the first whistle, it became clear that Croatia were intent on attacking down Wales’ flanks and that Connor Roberts especially was having a tough time of it against Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic. Making liberal use of diagonal crossfield passes, the home side were threatening from the start with Roberts and Ben Davies on the left often being left exposed with one or, sometimes, two opponents running at them.
However, it would not be fair to blame either full back too much for this situation, because, in the modern game, they have the right to expect defensive support from those in front of them. Ordinarily, you would expect that support to come from wingers/wide midfield players, but former Wales winger David Cotterill, who was the summariser on Sky’s coverage, was of the opinion that Ryan Giggs wanted Dan James and Gareth Bale to push right up the pitch and so the responsibility for helping out the full backs lay with midfielders Will Vaulks and Matt Smith.
Cotterill’s view was that, especially in such heat, this was putting a huge workload on Vaulks and Smith which would see them struggle to last the pace and, as it was, both were taken off well before the end – although at 2-0 down, it should be said that they would both probably have been candidates to be withdrawn anyway.
Whether Cotterill was right or wrong in his thinking about the way Wales set up, the truth was that whoever it was who was supposed to be helping the full backs did not fulfill that role effectively enough.
That one of the wingers was Bale brings me on to the surprising selection of Harry Wilson to play through the middle, but it could have been hailed as a masterstroke by Giggs early on if the latter had been able to capitalise on being superbly played in by the Welsh captain. The creation of this great chance was unusual in that it came courtesy of a very accurate and powerful long thrown which caught the Croatia defence on the hop, but, for someone who is usually such a great striker of the ball, Wilson’s shot was disappointingly tame.
Wilson was then left appealing for a free kick on the edge of the penalty area on seventeen minutes after being brought down and, as far as you could judge anything with the substandard coverage provided by the host broadcasters, it looked like he had a fair case. However, within a few seconds, the ball was, yet again, played into space for Perisic down Wales’ right and, with Roberts having been caught upfield, the winger was able to run on with little resistance (should Wayne Hennessey have come out to try to reach the ball first after it had been played over the top rather than retreating back to his goal?) before knocking a low cross over that the covering James Lawrence could only divert into his own net.
Wales might have been causing the home side one or two defensive problems, but it felt to me that the goal had been coming. While what seemed to me to be an attacking approach by Wales was laudable in some ways, it also seemed a naive one because we were, after all, playing beaten finalists in last summer’s World Cup who have a truly awesome home record in recent qualifying groups for major competitions.
For the next fifteen to twenty minutes, Wales were grateful for the deficit to remain at just 1-0 as Croatia continued to exploit the wide open spaces down the sides, but, as the interval grew closer, there were increasing signs that the visitors, who had looked to have the ability to get beyond opponents trying to track back even when they were struggling, were beginning to take a grip on proceedings.
This upturn in Welsh fortunes did not exactly result in a siege on the home goal, but when James and Wilson combined well to set up the oncoming Vaulks, keeper Livakovic (who had me thinking throughout that he had a major calamity in him which, sadly, never came to pass on the day) had to block the midfielder’s shot and then fall on the ball as it as it bobbled towards the line with no Welshman able to apply a finishing touch.
Looking at the first forty five minutes as a whole it seemed to me that Croatia (who would, naturally, know more about playing in the prevailing conditions more than their opponents) had decided to make a fast start in the hope of catching Wales on the hop and, to a large extent, it had worked.
Therefore, it would, surely, have been reasonable to expect something similar after the restart, but, once again, Wales were caught cold as it also looked like nothing had been said at half time to counter the Crotian dominance down the flanks.
Having survived a major fright within seconds of the restart when a Croatian goal was chalked off courtesy of a pretty dubious looking offside decision, Wales then gave away a shocking goal as Lawrence carelessly conceded possession and the home team capitalised on a series of defensive errors which ended with Perisic brushing off Roberts too easily to fire past Wayne Hennessey.
Wales’ keeper would go on to make some good saves as Croatia created chances on the break as the game went on, but at least his team were looking like they had a goal or two in them as a more involved Bale fired off a series of shots of varying quality.
However, it was when David Brooks (who had been dropped to the bench because of a slight injury which had forced him to miss training in the lead up to the match) and Ethan Ampadu were introduced for Vaulks and Smith that Wales really stepped things up.
Brooks got a goal back with a shot from the edge of the penalty area which took a slight deflection with just under a quarter of an hour left and, while it would be wrong to say they were panicking, Croatia looked distinctly uneasy after that when the Welsh speed merchants up front ran at them.
Although Brooks had the best chance to equalise when he couldn’t get a proper contact on a good Bale cut back, it was more through their increasingly cynical tackling that Croatian discomfort revealed itself. Five yellow cards to one was a fair reflection of intent from either side when it came to challenging for the ball, but it really should have been four yellows and a red for the home team as referee Kovacs again did Wales few favours with his failure to punish Jedvaj as severely as he should have done following his very poor tackle on Joe Allen.
It was certainly an exciting end to the match as play switched from end to end basketball style, but Wales had to settle for defeat with some honour – yet, I say again, there was a tangible feeling that this was an opportunity missed.
While a narrow defeat in Croatia may not be a terminal blow to our qualification hopes for Euro 2020, Hungary’s 3-1 victory in Azerbijan to follow on from their win over Croatia in March means that defeat in Budapest on Tuesday will leave Wales facing a stiff task indeed if they are to clinch a top two finish.
Also, while the evening kick off on Tuesday will mean that temperatures will not be as punishing as they were today, it is still expected to be pretty warm for our next match, so it will be a test of the Welsh team’s fitness and powers of recovery as well as their skill.
After a fairly short period where, unusually, I found myself being able to “trust” the Welsh team, this new model of Giggs’ concerns me somewhat. The potential is there no doubt and they are great to watch when they are on song, but we look a little wet behind the ears both on the pitch and in the dug out at the moment and I have an uneasy feeling about Tuesday.
