Wales seal place at 2022 World Cup as playoff final win ends Ukraine hopes

[muriel_volestrangler]

A horrible way to lose - the Ukrainian captain deflected a good Welsh free-kick past his own goalkeeper, who might well have saved the direct shot:

For Wales, the only goal will live long in the memory. It stemmed from Ruslan Malinovskyi blocking off Daniel James 20-odd yards from goal, to leave Bale standing over a free-kick that was from an almost identical distance to when he opened the scoring against Austria in the semi-final.

Bale flighted a devilish low cross towards the back post and Yarmolenko, sensing danger, flung himself towards it and inadvertently headed the ball past his own goalkeeper, Georgiy Bushchan. Bale wheeled away, pointing to the crest on his chest. Ben Davies, one of Wales’s standout performers on the night, tapped his temples, urging calm among his teammates. Hennessey was arguably the strongest contender, however, his sprawling left-hand save to prevent the substitute Artem Dovbyk from heading in Vitaly Mykolenko’s cross late on the pick a fine bunch.
...
Ukraine’s players displayed a flag in their dressing room that was scribbled with handwritten goodwill messages sent to them by soldiers on the front-line, a sobering reminder of their motivations. Ukraine’s players, who again sung the national anthem draped in their national flags, were applauded by the Welsh fans with a front-row seat of their final warmup shuttle runs. “Tonight, now is our time,” predicted the stadium announcer before a moving rendition of the Welsh national anthem.

Bale emerged from the tunnel, poured a bottle of water over his head, and was off and away. It was a fraught start from a Wales perspective, with Joe Allen and James booked inside two minutes. By the time the third minute arrived Ukraine had the ball in Hennessey’s net, but Oleksandr Zinchenko’s quick free-kick, the result of Allen’s foul on Taras Stepanenko, was taken too hastily for the referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz’s liking and duly disallowed. The selection of Hennessey was intriguing in itself, the 35-year-old goalkeeper who won his 100th cap in March preferred to Danny Ward, who impressed at Euro 2020 last summer. Hennessey was kept busy from the moment he – just about – got to grips with Malinovskyi’s early free-kick.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/05/wales-ukraine-world-cup-2022-playoff-final-match-report

[Buzz cook]

1. Ukraine did really well to get this far.

Wales coach said it is us against the world because so many people were rooting for Ukraine to make it to the World Cup.

Just as with Scotland I'm sure there were many Welsh people wearing yellow and blue.

Wales has not been to the World Cup for over 80 years, so it was two underdogs.

Cymru am byth and Glory to Ukraine.

[Ron Obvious]

2. Not quite. It was 64 years

The 1958 World Cup, which also featured a Brazil side starring a 17 year old Pele.

[Buzz cook]

3. Oops should have double checked

Thanks for the correction.