Saturday’s hard earned draw in Croatia has inspired Wales to believe once again that another qualification is on the cards. Having participated in the last two Euro finals and the last World Cup the new generation of Wales fans can’t be faulted for expecting to qualify as opposed to hoping.
If Wales do qualify for Germany 2024 that will be eight years of successful qualification, and the third Euros finals in a row. It’s been a long time since 1958 has been mentioned in what is fast approaching a decade. That said apart from that wonderful tournament in France 2016 where a semi final place was earned it has been a disappointment to an extent.
But of course what do Wales followers really expect ? That semi final in 2016 far outweighed expectations with some crazy games and fantastic results along the way. Possibly even crazier than one Eder ( Ederzito António Macedo Lopes ) officially a Swansea City player only five weeks prior to the final scoring the winner for Portugal against France.
There is a new breed of player forcing its way in to Wales reckoning as we saw with Nathan Broadhead, a league one player for Ipswich Town securing a point in the final seconds in Split on the weekend. Liam Cullen who didn’t make the cut for the game in Croatia is of a similar age and has a similar goal scoring record per game as Broadhead albeit at a higher level. He will be disappointed if he doesn’t at least make the bench tonight. Ollie Cooper is another who can turn a game on its head, he is having a great season for Swansea City and his omission from the weekends squad was questionable. However as long as Rob Page gets the results any criticism will soon disappear.
Cymru manager Page is realistic though regards the game ahead. "They are all in good spirits,” said Page. "We’ve had a great days recovery after a great result. That result ( Croatia ) is the reference point for us now, that we’ve been able to go to a great team in Croatia and pick up a point without a full squad. It’s credit to the players for the attitude they showed. We stayed in the game until the last minute and it was down to Broady to come on and show his worth. Our supporters were immense again. You can’t beat that feeling and connection when Broady ran to the crowd. The new players and coaching staff have brought a fresh energy and its a good environment at this moment in time. Its going to be tough game for different reasons. They wont have the threat of Croatia and it will be a different type of game, but we will have a plan. It’s always great when you see a substitute that you have made come on and score the equaliser like Broady did. He’s fitted in straight away as the group know him from the U21’s. I’ve worked with him before and I know he has an eye for goal. I know he will create chances and get goals for us. We have to focus on ourselves, we can only do what we can do. You cant guarantee anything, but we will stick to a game plan that means we can win the game. We want consistent performances across the board whoever we are playing against, then the result will take care of itself.”
Latvia manager Dainis KazakeviÄs on his sides game tonight. "This will be our first game in a new qualification cycle and we are ready to fight for points. I think Wales is professional enough and I don’t think they will underestimate us.”
The Referee
Giorgi Kruashvili will referee the match between Cymru and Latvia tonight. The thirty six year old from Georgia refereed the World Cup qualifier between Belarus and Cymru back in September 2021 when a hat-trick from Gareth Bale earned Rob Page’s side a valuable three points on their way to qualifying for the finals in Qatar. Kruashvili has officiated matches in the UEFA Nations League and the Europa League this season.
Wales v Latvia in Group D of qualification for Germany 2024 will be shown on S4C live, with coverage starting at 7.25pm (UK time). S4C can be streamed via BBC iPlayer. The game will also be shown on the Viaplay Sports 2, coverage starts at 7.35pm