Wales made it in the end after dominating last nights game against Liechtenstein, what we hoped would be a 6-0 win ended in just one goal and a lot of frustration. Especially against a side who have a FIFA ranking of 202 out of 206.
As expected Wales won, but this World Cup qualifier was a very hard watch at times. It was very laboured. Craig Bellamy had sent his side out to attack and score goals, but as we have seen with this current system and formation it’s passing and passing and then more passing. Not dissimilar to the Swans it gets you a very agitated crowd. Over three thousand Wales followers were in the ground, noisy, rebellious and in the main well behaved but expecting the win. Jordan James ensured victory but it took sixty one minutes to get there and this victory only leads us to the final game of this qualification group. That comes on Tuesday evening (7:45pm) where tickets in certain areas are still available. You will have to move quick there’s only around a hundred left.
The Indy at the game
Ethan Ampadu and Jordan James were booked, they miss the fixture on Tuesday, add to that Ben Cabango, Kieffer Moore and Ben Davies and the availability looks grim. Craig Bellamy. Any complain he too was banned and in the stands for this fixture so Piet Cremers was operating on the touchline and conducting the pre and post match interviews. Talking about the game he said, "We knew we had to take care of today. We did that and now our focus goes to North Macedonia. It will be another difficult game in Cardiff but we play at home, we’ve got our fans in numbers and we’ll look to turn it into a positive result. This is a type of game where everyone expects you to win 5-0, 6-0, 7-0, but when you come to these places it can be a difficult game. We’ve seen that with teams that have played here before, like Belgium who struggled to score goals in the first half. It’s a team that’s very well organised, they keep the spaces small, and try to limit your chances.”
The attendance was nearly 6,000 Wales followers in the ascendancy (below)
That as may well be but despite the colourful support seemingly at ease with itself for a change chance after chance went by the way but oddly enough despite the embarrassment a draw would have been okay. Wales still need to go into Tuesdays fixture and gain a win. In fact it’s now a case of win and get a semi final play off home draw. A draw or loss then Wales still qualify but will be away from home in the semi final play off game in March.
The reality is below.
The formalities will be complete by Tuesday evening at 10pm.