Cymru v Bosnia and Herzegovina
26th March 2006
Cardiff City Stadium
This won’t be the usual kind of match report, because I don’t want to relive it in detail and I’m sure you don’t. Plus it’s bad enough that I can still see Brennan Johnson’s penalty flying over the bar every time I close my eyes.
Another Playoff game for Cymru, luckily for Y Wal Goch all recent playoff games have been in Cardiff. Only the first leg for Mark Hughes’ team against Russia (also the first leg of the 1958 World Cup qualifier against Israel) So, thanks to the luck of the draw we have been able to sit through the ups and downs in person, rather than at home hiding behind the sofa. With it being a Semi Final match, something Cymru haven’t had a problem in winning in pervious years, we had more than one eye on who we would be playing in Tuesday’s final against Italy or Northern Ireland. We headed into Cardiff City Stadium on a night that could definitely be described here in Cymru has Big Coat Weather. It was that cold around Kick Off time that even my nervous tension wasn’t keeping me warm and wishing I was sat nearer the Bosnian fans so I could get some warmth from the flares they keep setting off.
The game started brightly for Cymru, lots of possession but not really attacking the Bosnian goal. There was one shot that give us reason to jump up out of our seats but unfortunately it just didn’t dip enough and hit the crossbar. Was it going to be one of those nights? The longer the first half went on the more tension was felt around the ground. Unusually the away fans out sung us, maybe they could see what was coming? Being a lot lower than us in the FIFA World Rankings they seemed to be encouraged that they had kept it to 0-0.
With not much to jump up and down about to keep me warm I rummaged round in my Big Coat for a hat, only to notice it was my Cardiff City hat. Not wanting to wear it in amongst fans from the other Welsh clubs, I turned it inside out and only after I put it on I realised it was a colour that can only be described as ‘Bosnian Blue’ so that went back in my pocket and hoped that the excitement of a Cymru goal would warm me up.
Thankfully not long into the second half I was able to jump around screaming when Daniel James scored a wonder goal. From where I was sat just inside the Bosnian half I had a great view from behind and watched the ball as it looked as if it was heading straight into the keepers hands before some how curling away into the back of the net. A great goal that would have been the perfect way for Cymru to win.
Unfortunately, the Football Gods don’t go for sentimentality and they always find new ways to break your heart. Ian Broudie of The Lightening Seeds once said about football that it is ‘communal torture, with brief flashes of hope.’ Our hope turned back into communal torture with four minutes left in the match when Edin Dzeko, a man who I will have an irrational dislike of for the rest of my life headed home from a corner. Yes it was going to be one of the nights!
Let’s put this behind us and move on to the next challenge. I will end with the words of Craig Bellamy last night “The sun will rise. And I’m going to watch that sunrise tomorrow”
The tension ramped up in the crowd has Extra Time started, we all knew it was going to the dreaded penalties has we just couldn’t get that all important second goal.
Having mentioned the Football Gods, who I have somehow pissed off at some point during my life, decided not only were they going to put me through the stomach turning sickness that is watching your team in a penalty shootout but they thought of a new way of kicking me in the gut when they had Karl Darlow brilliantly save the first penalty. When Harry Wilson scored our first penalty, I was already making a mental note to delete any Social Media posts that might have mentioned the president so that I would be able to get in America. When Mark Harris stepped up and made it 2-1, I really started thinking about beating Italy in one of those special Cardiff City Stadium nights.
This was when the Football Gods stepped in and decided it was time to bring us all down and it was poor Brennan Johnson and Nico Williams who they took it out on. I will never blame a player for missing a penalty, they had the guts to step up and take one when many players going missing when the pressure is on. Those two will bounce back and send us into the Euro 2028, I sure of it!