My days of finishing these match reports at 3.00 am are gone now, so, following what seemed a never ending period of extra time, this will only be a short piece about Wales’ elimination from the World Cup on penalties tonight against a well drilled, but so cynical, Bosnia team after the game finished 1-1 after extra time.
Given that Wales hit the woodwork twice through Harry Wilson and scorer Dan James they can feel, justifiably, unlucky not to have won, but, equally, it felt like Bosnia’s late equaliser through Edin Dzeko had been coming as the home side lost their way on the back of none of the three substitutions Craig Bellamy made working during regular play as he would have liked.
I’m not one of those who is automatically anti Liam Cullen because he’s a Jack, but tonight he had a bit of a nightmare after coming on for Jordan James as he was booked, was part of a Welsh midfield which lost its way from around the hour mark onwards. This lack of authority saw the Welsh midfield turned into something of a one man band as Ethan Ampadu fought a lone fight against the odds. To cap things off for Cullen, his mistake saw his team concede a very cheap corner from which Bosnia scored.
Mark Harris for Dan James and Sorba Thomas for David Brooks made Wales worse in regular time as well, but the former was influential in extra time as he sent over a stream of crosses (even if it was a bit like watching City play at the moment as anything in the air was invariably won by a defender). To be fair to the Harris as well, he produced a lovely flick from a low cross from Thomas into the path of Wilson who was denied by a good headed block by a defender – Harris also stepped up to score from a penalty in the shoot out.
Wilson produced the one real highlight in a first half marred by a series of fouls by the Bosnians who could have easily ended with more than three yellow cards – Wales were the better side though and Wilson’s precise shot from the corner of the area left the keeper just a spectator as it crashed against the far post and out.
Wales took charge of the game early in the second half when they broke the deadlock. The goal came somewhat out of the blue though as Dylan Lawlor’s header which took play just inside the Bosnian half was played by one of the visiting midfielders into the path of Dan James who surprised keeper Vasilj by taking his shot early from about twenty five minutes and as the keeper lost his footing as he tried to set himself for the shot, the ball flew beyond him into the net.
It was the best goal I can remember James scoring for his country and he came close on two more occasions, first forcing Vasilj into a diving save and then with a shot from the edge of the penalty area which got a slight deflection on to the crossbar.
Karl Darlow then produced a superb save to keep out a header by Demirovic and when the same player was unable to take advantage of a slip by Joe Rodon, it looked like Wales may be going to go through to a Final against Italy who were 2-0 winners over Northern Ireland tonight in the other Semi Final. However, then came that corner which should have been avoided and Dzeko’s header after Darlow came for, but didn’t reach the cross.
That was Darlow’s one slip of the night and he put Wales on top early on in the shoot out when he again saved from Demirovic and with Wilson and Harris scoring Wales were 2-1 ahead going into the third pair of penalties. It was there where it all started to go wrong as Brennan Johnson, leaning back as he made contact with the ball, skied over the bar in what could be said to be a snapshot of his Wales career really and then Neco Williams took one of those penalties that was such a nice height for a keeper to save if he chose the right way to dive. Unfortunately, Vasilj did.
It was a surprise to see Wales only make those three substitutions in a game that went 120 minutes, especially as it was hard to work out who could take the five penalties. I tried to pick the five beforehand and got the four who did right, but I only had faith in Wilson and Williams scoring. I had Ampadu as the fifth penalty taker, we never found out who it was though, but it didn’t look a strong group of penalty takers left on the pitch at the end – I would have brought someone like Nathan Broadhead on to take one.
Another night to add to Wales’ long line of near misses then, but, a personal view is that I’m surprised by how little I’m bothered about it. I’ve never been one of those football fans who are club only and tend to have a whinge during international breaks, I’m usually fully into Welsh fixtures, but there was none of the usual tension I feel before a big international night yesterday and I was surprised how detached I felt from it all even during the penalty shoot out.
I can only presume that having reached a World Cup and two Euros in the recent past, the fact that we’ve failed to qualify for two successive tournaments now despite having the benefit of a home draw each time, doesn’t bother me as much as it would have done ten years ago. In saying that mind, given the side we became following Euro 2016, it’s hard not to believe that we should be beating a Bosnian team rated only seventy one in the world.
Maybe Welsh fans and media are guilty of over rating a team which, on closer examination, seems to me to be in need of improvement/and or more depth in the goalkeeping, central defensive, central midfield and striking areas? We seem a little like the Welsh side of the 80s to me, with some fine players, but not the solidity all over the pitch that a country like ours needs to achieve what is success in our terms? Perhaps we’re missing the Wayne Hennessey’s, Chris Gunter’s, Ashley Williams’ and Joe Ledley’s as much as we’re missing Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen?
Finally, Noah Williams captained a Wales Under 19 side that also included Jack Sykes and Axel Donczew to a very impressive 0-0 draw with France given that they had to play with ten men from the half an hour mark onwards following a red card.
Thanks Paul, as ever.
And like you, I feel no sense of loss that we ain’t going Stateside. Not sure I can take much more repetition of Dafydd Iwan’s signature song… having loved it when I first came upon it on YouTube about 15 years ago… with that performance at the National Eisteddfod at Bala. It may not have chimed exactly with my view of history, but ‘parti pris’ or not, I had to admit it was mesmerisingly compellingly brilliant.
But now I favour a sweeter side of our national character, one that captures the warmth of our nature… one of the songs of my childhood indeed.
Of the myriad versions on YouTube, this is the one that never fails to bring tears to my eyes… a truncated version of the 1940 song, sung in a reciprocal concert on 5th of October 1957 across the newly installed Transatlantic cable from The Grand Pavilion in Porthcawl to the great Paul Robeson in NYC… a brave man shamefully deprived of his passport by his government.
https://tinyurl.com/2wpvhxkb
This song shows we are a welcoming rather than a bitter people… as evinced by our manager last night, who for all his faults in team selection and tactics, and occasional his dust-up with the opposition management during the 120 minutes, was impressively noble in the way he took the crushing disappointment, and warmly (yes warmly) embraced his rival manager at the end.
Yes, we will keep our natural warmth, and extend it even in defeat to a quite cynical (but equally let us not forget, quite talented team… OMG… that dangerous slightly moustachioed 18 yr old chap they brought on at left wing is going to be some player…)
As for last night’s game, we blew it tactically. Bellamy said his team would start all energy… and yes whilst in part we did and got them rattled, alas throughout the game his goalie Darlow slowed it up whenever he had the ball, leisurely walking around his penalty area tapping the ball hoping in vain to have a Bosnian mad dog jump out of position and thus provide some way for us to jump their press*… but the Bosnians were not that stupid.
And then Lawlor, who was admittedly better than Rodon on the night, when he did get the ball, would almost invariably pass it square and then get it straight back. Yet we kept this nonsense up all 120 minutes.
Re Lawlor: his trademark fine defence-cutting long pass forward was largely absent from his evening. And we could have done with Cabango’s stronger aerial prowess to defend the Bosnian headed equaliser.
As for Ashley Williams slating the Romanian referee: shame on him. The ref booked his first Bosnian after just 4 minutes…!! What more does he want?
I could not help but go back exactly half a century to the ‘Battle of Ninian Park’ in May 1976 where a police officer was speared in the neck by a corner flag thrown as an assagai by a Welsh fan.
But thank heavens last night’s referee was no Herr Rudi Glöckner from East Germany… who was so one-sided in his decisions that many of us genuinely believe he took a bribe.
The Bosnians even took the field in the all-white the Yugoslavs wore that day…and that Yugoslav team incidentally contained several key big cynical Bosnian players.
As for Johnson who recently had his one really good game for Wales: Palace fans clearly think they have got his number and regard him as money wasted. How he can be selected before Sorba Thomas, is a mystery.
As for Craig’s subs: how he can pick Harris over Broadhead is a puzzle, and the anonymous Cullen must so now regret that totally unnecessary corner he conceded. The keeper was as culpable as our centre backs for the result of that corner, but he deserves some credit in his bank for that brilliant save from that earlier header.
I reckon that only Dasilva had an 8/10 game… Dan James was one of a handful of sevens. Great goal, for sure.
To me, this was a chance missed. I reckon we’d have given the Italians a real run for their money next Tuesday. I now won’t be surprised if Bosnia go and beat the Italians as the game is in Zenica.
*not unlike Son of Pep had his Kepa doing last Sunday at Wembley…
TTFN,
Dai.
Hi Paul and Dai.
Like you, deflated but not totally surprised. However, that was a golden opportunity missed! Great pre- match expectation, but hit by a cold dose of reality up against a wily, experienced opponent.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but, along with all those around me and the general chatter on Sloper Road afterwards – we got the subs wrong ( although Sorba Thomas grew into the game and fizzed in some lovely crosses) and played too defensively once we had the lead. You have both covered it better than I can.
Bosnia were never going to sit back once they fell behind and after they brought on all their attackers the game changed and we lost control. Even then though we had chances – especially Wilson ( not hitting with his right foot and getting crowded out) and Harris ( not getting something on Johnson’s header across the goal).
Bit like the City – a young team that is still learning and missing a few wise old heads to see things out when needed. We all love the basic footballing approach, but it needs to have some pragmatism attached.
Talking of the City it was great to see Lawlor looking so comfortable and confident on the ball in this company. How good is he? Agree, a lot of sideways movement, but he also strode through with purpose a couple of times – albeit without the defence-splitting passes on display that we know he is capable of.
Just hope this team can grow and develop having learned from this roller-coaster campaign.
Back to City-related stress next week!
Good morning to Paul and Huw and fellow MAYA readers…
One thing I forgot to say re Paul’s excellent report, was that he cited the equaliser as Darlow’s only error… but forgive me for pointing out Karl’s rush of blood to the head when dawdling with the ball at his feet and nearly getting robbed, and also playing a straight forward hospital pass to a Welsh jersey with a Bosnian breathing down the defender’s neck… (were the two incidents separate… or were they one-and-the-same? I have tried to banish the horrors from my memory…)
How I wish Craig would stop his national team going down the crazy ‘play out from the back’ kamikaze road of him and Vincent at Burnley.
But hey, at least we had a proper game on Thursday… for I watched last night’s England game with mounting horror. Uruguay and their big brother across the River Plate, are world champions in s-housery… and managed.to make a ‘friendly’ into a really nasty affair… hopelessly handled by a German referee who should have sent off one Uruguayan for a shocking tackle on Foden.
Two conclusions I draw from it in relation to our game…
1. The Bosnians are amateurs in cynical play compared to those two South American nations.
2. How lucky we were with that Romanian official.
One final thing: re the Wembley game, I just spotted this comment… I hope it makes you smile as it did me. It is from readers’ comments…
‘…
Watching Tuchel’s latest game at home, I found this game to be quite boring so decided to check out what was on the other side. Turns out the back of my tv is quite dusty.
…’
DW
I just watched the WSL Manchester derby live on the BBC, and was stunned at two experienced broadcasters making a ‘schoolboy/girl mistake’ in their commentary, noticing that City’s third headed goal in a matter of minutes had been ruled out.
The astonishing thing is that Robyn Cowen is a commentator for Match of the Day on MEN’S games, and her co-comms, ex-international Nia Jones is considered an insightful voice. It was a bizarre double error stemming from NEITHER woman watching the game through their monitor, and thus seeing what we all saw at home… viz the referee instantly disallowing the goal due to interference with the goalie.
But the weirdest thing why it took so long for the penny to drop with them, was the fact that the ball was in the City half before they finally announced it ‘must have been disallowed’. Eh? The dummies: had they not noticed that United had not kicked off from the centre circle? That very fact should have told them everything.
And later they wondered why a United player had a head injury when her lower leg had been involved in a tackle. Again ladies: WATCH YOUR MONITOR when commentating. Had you been, you’d have seen Hemp’s knee accidentally bump her head as they fell.
I suggest both go back to training school.
DW
Good stuff from Paul and Dai – probably because I saw it all in pretty much the same way. I realise, with hindsight, that I was worrying for our boys from about an hour in. Those plucky lil’ Bosnians had already kicked the scheisse out of the cream of our youth, and were beginning to look far too knowing for our lot. Big, bony, roughhouses, entirely devoid of conscience and empathy, abetted by a putrid ref. Soon, I was recognising signs of the recent-ish eras when we were crucially three or so individuals below par (in the current team, e.g., Cullen and Mark Davies), and we never won a thing. We may need to prime ourselves for grey days, and just hope the blessed Bellers chooses to stay a while.
A pause, a word – for Dzeko; “he’s some kinda guy” as Marlene Dietrich said of Orson Welles in the latter’s masterly film, “Touch of Evil”.
Thursday night , I had a delicious taste of deja vu. Along with, I’d guess, quite a few readers of this blog, I had seen Dzeko playing for Man City in the very same stadium in 2013/14. Thanks to Frasier Campbell and the sainted Whitts we beat them, but Dzeko sure occupied a lot of space, and scored a mighty 25-yarder.
Only just caught up with the analysis and the comments. I agree with nearly all the points made. I was practically screaming at the tv when I saw Cullen come on for James. It was the root of the failure in midfield that followed and, I too, am not anti Jack. The one comment of Dai’s with which I do not agree is the matter of building from the back. When you don’t have a big striker, in my opinion, it is the only way to do it. It is then essential to play around a bit to try to find a gap. That said it does have to be done carefully and Darlow failed in that respect more than once.
Thanks all for what were much more than the usual amount of responses for an international game. Having had a few days to think a bit more about Thursday’s game, I’m coming around to the notion that maybe we all got too used to Wales performing to the level they did in the period 2014 to 2022 when qualification for major tournaments became the norm. A feeling that we had hit a “new norm” only intensified when we were able to qualify out of the group phase (something Scottish fans are getting very exciting about possibly doing for the first time ever this summer) in two out of the three Finals tournaments we reached during this period to go with last eight appearances in 1958 and 1978.
That’s a good, if not outstanding, record for a country of our size and tends to support an argument that Welsh football is very much a question of peaks and troughs to an extent that Scottish football isn’t. Wales have been able to scale higher peaks than the Scots have managed, but, the fact that I cannot ever remember Scotland having a world ranking of a hundred or worse says that our troughs are deeper and probably longer lasting than theirs.
I actually think Wales’ current squad could be ranked as above average when compared to previous ones, but above average is not a level that sees you qualifying for many major tournaments if your mean position is as low as ours is.
With regard to 2026, it needs to be remembered of course that, even if we’d won well on Thursday, we’d still need to be beat one of the historic giants of the game tomorrow to confirm our qualification for what hopefully won’t become remembered as Trump’s World Cup and, although I wouldn’t have entirely ruled out a Welsh win, we’d have been pretty big underdogs I reckon.
In saying all of that, I can’t shake off a feeling that we should have had enough to beat that Bosnian team last week and I believe we could well have done if our manager had made better substitutions. It’s unfortunate that the player who is copping most stick is a jack because it gives some the opportunity to say that it’s only because Liam Cullen plays for Swansea. I think Craig Bellamy made a very big mistake when he brought on Cullen for Jordan James, but I’m not a Cardiff fan who is saying it should have been one of the Colwill brothers who came on instead, it should have been the ex Jack Josh Sheehan. That would have been seen as a defensive move, but we would still have had more than enough attack minded players on the pitch and, anyway, we were leading, so why the need to make a move which made us even more attack minded when you consider that Cullen is primarily a striker/number ten?
I’m a Craig Bellamy fan who believes that he’s the best man to be in charge at the moment. Having said that, it seems to me that, with the exception of the outstanding 7-1 win over North Macedonia, Bellamy’s Wales have gone backwards slightly in 25/26. Players like Cullen and Mark Harris have not had good club seasons, yet this is not reflected in Bellamy’s selections since the autumn. In fact, it seems pretty clear that Harris is rated above Nathan Broadhead – why! Similarly, Sorba Thomas’ demotion from the starting eleven looks odd when you consider it would not have been too much of a problem to have found a place in the team for him given Kiefer Moore’s injury.
Just a few words about the ref, I didn’t think he had a major impact on the outcome and he did a reasonable enough job overall, but did he look like someone who was good enough to have taken charge of a Champions League Final? My answer has to be no.