Looking at it now, there can be no doubt as to which of the two fixtures they played in their latest round of matches to take place while club football at the top domestic levels took a break was regarded as the more important one within the Welsh camp.
During the summer, I daresay that most supporters, myself included, would have looked at what was coming up during the October international break and picked out the glamour friendly with Spain at the Principality Stadium as being the one to whet the appetite an awful lot more than yet another match against the Republic of Ireland in a competition which barely anyone knew anything about.
However, a lot has changed in the intervening months (actually, it’s truer to say that the change in perception started in September when it became clearer what the newly formed Nations League entails).
Whilst it is still all a bit suck it and see and I suppose final judgments need to be left until after a complete Nations League tournament has been concluded, it is still possible to say with certainty that the second group of fixtures in the competition only confirmed what the first one last month did. The Nations League is being taken seriously by most countries and so we are getting games that are a lot more competitive than the friendlies, with substitutions galore, that it is meant to reduce to almost a rump.
Although Spain are a great draw if you are going to play one of these “meaningless” friendlies and a crowd of 50,000 for Thursday’s non event cannot be said to have rendered the match a complete failure in terms of the FAW’s decision to play a first game at the Welsh rugby ground in seven years, my own view is that the turn out was a disappointing one in the context of the sort of crowds that were watching friendly matches in the same ground around twenty years ago.
Of course, there are supporters who will not attend football internationals at the Principality Stadium as a matter of principle, but that was also the case for nights like this one back in 2000 when 15,000 more were in attendance for a friendly with Finland.
So, I’d argue that the Welsh footballing public, to some extent at least, share UEFA’s opinion that friendly games, even against some of the best sides in the world, are not the draw they once were and, while others may feel differently, my own reaction to our latest two matches made it pretty obvious which one I regarded as the highest priority.
In last night’s 1-0 win at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, what came through loud and clear from Ryan Giggs’ selection and then the attitude in the stands from supporters and on the pitch from the players in an under strength team was that this was the game which really mattered for them, not the one on Thursday.
Much was made of the loss of the injured Gareth Bale and the absent Aaron Ramsey (given time off to be present at the birth of twin sons) before the game (it was the first time they had both been missing from a Wales competitive game since Rambo’s debut a decade ago), but it should be emphasised that two other players who have become very important to the team in a very short space of time were also absent through injury last night.
Eighteen year old Ethan Ampadu was voted Man of the Match in the 4-1 win over the Republic in Cardiff last month for a display with remarkable levels of composure and maturity for one so young and I think it’s fair to say that if you were picking a first choice Welsh eleven now, Ampadu would have to be in it. Whether the same applies to Brentford centreback Chris Mepham is more arguable, but, for me, he has been Wales’ best central defender in 2018.
Giggs’ selection against Spain included Chris Gunter and Sam Vokes in the starting line up. while the likes of David Brooks, Tom Lawrence, Matt Smith and Tyler Roberts sat on the bench, but it was the two stalwarts of Welsh teams over the past decade who were stood down when it came to the game in Dublin, while the young guns all got a start.
James Chester’s recall in place of Gunter in central defence was the only concession to experience Giggs made as he turned, not to Vokes, but to Leeds’ Roberts, not to Andy King in midfield to replace Ramsey, but eighteen year old Smith and Lawrence, Brooks and Tyler Roberts joined Harry Wilson in forming an attacking quartet with an average age of only twenty one.
With Ben Woodburn, probably regarded this time last year as a better prospect than the four who started last night, on the bench, Wales really have reassuring strength in depth in the sort of areas that will need to be filled when record scorer Bale hangs up his international boots. Based on all four matches we’ve played against Ireland in the past eighteen months or so, you can only wonder what they would give for just one such young attacker – not to mention a Mepham, Connor Roberts, Smith or Ampadu.
Wales’ improvement in recent years has been based on good home results, but, perhaps more importantly, they have become a lot more competitive in away games against teams other than the very weakest where they would go expecting to win.
While the Republic of Ireland are not the team they were for much of the last thirty years or so, they still represent the sort of team Wales would have once gone away to with little hope of win – indeed, a Welsh team including Bale and Ramsey probably came home satisfied with their point in a goalless draw in the first of that quarter of meetings between the two countries in March 2017.
So, for Wales to go to the ground where tenth ranked in the world Denmark could only draw 0-0 on Friday and win with such a depleted team has to be seen as a great result – even better than the comprehensive win in Cardiff last month when you consider that the likes of Harry Arter, James McLean and Shane Long were all back for the hosts after missing the earlier game.
Ireland knew that they really needed to win if they were to stand any chance of topping the group and they shaded a dull first half which was low on goalmouth incident. Perhaps things might have turned out different for them if the great opportunity prompted by Smith’s only mistake in a promising first start for his country had fallen to someone other than Cyrus Christie in the ninth minute, but the full back playing in midfield put his shot too close to Wayne Hennessey who was able to make a good save at the expense of a corner.
With Ireland enjoying a clear height advantage, set pieces were always going to represent their best chance of scoring, but Wales coped well in these situations throughout with captain Ashley Williams in particular to the fore in a display which said that, despite some evidence to the contrary in the past year or so, he can still do a job for his country – it was Williams’ best Wales display in some time.
With Wilson in particular quiet, Wales were largely anonymous as an attacking force in the first half – Lawrence was also on the margins, while Brooks’ impact was blunted by what was a pretty obvious Irish attempt to kick him out of the game.
While the worst tackle in the last four games between the countries was, almost certainly, the one by Neil Taylor which broke Seamus Coleman’s leg in the first of the meetings, a yellow card count of eleven to Ireland and four to Wales over the period tells a clear story
In the World Cup game in Cardiff, Joe Allen, such an important figure for Wales that night with Bale out injured, was forced off early on by Ireland’s over zealous approach and their scorer that night, McLean, really should have been booked long before he eventually was last night after a couple of early fouls on the Bournemouth man – as it was, Kevin Long was the first Irishman to see yellow for a more innocuous foul on Brooks.
With little support from the trio just behind him, Tyler Roberts cut an isolated figure during the opening forty five minutes, but I thought he did well against a trio of centrebacks and when Wales put together a move which showed a fluency which Ireland could never equal, his clever back flick caused home keeper Darren Randolph into his only meaningful action of the half.
A run through the middle past three opponents which was ended by the foul which eventually got McLean his caution offered a clue that Wilson would be more influential in the second half, but until the fifty eighth minute, it was still hard to see where a Wales goal was going to come from.
It was then that they were awarded a free kick about twenty yards out following a foul by Arter on Connor Roberts and, while Randolph’s starting position could be faulted to some extent, the shot Wilson came up with was a beauty which flew high to the keeper’s right as he waved it past him.
Wales were transformed after this and Lawrence saw a deflected shot drop not far wide within seconds of the goal. If there was a criticism of the Welsh performance, it was that while they showed their speed on the counter attack to good effect as Ireland pressed forward, a combination of wayward shooting and wrong options taken (Lawrence was a particular culprit in this regard) meant that the the second goal never came.
When Giggs finally made a substitution it was youth he turned to again as George Thomas replaced Smith and the Scunthorpe loanee missed the final Welsh chance of the night as Randolph blocked his effort after he had been put clean through by Tyler Roberts.
The later introductions of Gunter for Wilson and King for Brooks were more pragmatic ones as Ireland went with three strikers, backed up by Shane Duffy, in the closing minutes and Wakes could have paid for their profligacy with more assured finishing by the home side. However, it’s just five goals scored in nine matches for the Republic now and, although their attitude was better than it had been in Cardiff, the under pressure management pairing of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane have their work cut out if they are to reverse Irish fortunes.
Certainly, it’s hard to see anything but a home win when Ireland travel to Denmark next month and that would set up a showdown in Cardiff where a Welsh win over the Danes would see them top the group. Denmark’s recent record, particularly in terms of goals conceded, means that Wales will probably be underdogs that night, but, particularly if Christian Ericksen is still missing through injury, a home win cannot be ruled out even if there is no Bale or Ramsey.
Last night’s win completed a good couple of days overall for Wales. Although their game with Switzerland at Newport was a dead rubber in terms of qualification for the Under 21 European Championships next summer following their defeat in Romania on Friday, a 3-1 win was still a good way to end their campaign (the goals came from Bristol City’s Joe Morrell and there were a couple for his wurzels team mate, Connor Evans).
Mark Harris started the game for the Under 21s, and Ryan Reynolds captained the Under 19 team which beat Poland 2-0 thanks to a couple of goals by Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson (son of David, the former Ipswich striker). Isaak Davies also started in this match, while Sam Bowen was one of the subs and Rubin Colwell was in an Under 17 side which lost 5-1 to Portugal in what was an unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the age group European Championships – Eli King had played in a 1-0 defeat by Kazakhstan in the same competition a few days earlier.
