Cymru 2-0 Slovakia, aggregate 3-2
Cardiff City Stadium
Tuesday 29th October 2024
Stephen @StephenJBaker takes a look back at a historic night at the Cardiff City Stadium
After Friday night’s last minute goal by the excellent Ffion Morgan, it was game on in the Cardiff City Stadium Tuesday night. Because of that goal, Cymru needed to win 2-0. A scoreline that was hopefully attainable with home advantage.
With a crowd of over 10,000 cheering on every pass, Cymru attacked from the off. As on Friday it was all Cymru, attack after attack. What was different from Friday night was that the attacking didn’t stop and the Slovakian team didn’t take over the game after the first ten minutes.
The first half went on with more and more attacks from Cymru. The majority fell for Ffion Morgan who just couldn’t connect with the final ball no matter how hard she tried. Jess Fishlock, who started the match despite not being 100% fit, had a relatively quiet start to the match by her legendary standards. That was until the 39th minute, when cometh the hour, cometh the woman.
Angharad James picked up the ball inside the Slovakian half and with a delicate first touch, created enough space to play an excellent through ball to Jess Fishlock. Fishlock broke inside the box and with her first touch lifted the ball over the oncoming keeper. A fantastic finish by a player who is always there when Cymru needs her the most. It would be a crime if this legend doesn’t make it to an International Tournament.
Embed from Getty ImagesWith one goal down and one more to go, Cymru spent the rest of the first half on the attack. Once again Ffion Morgan, who had ran the Slovakian defence into the ground, had a few more chances that should have given Cymru the 2-0 lead they needed. But Morgan’s hard work wore the Slovakian team down. So much so that Friday night’s star, Slovakian Martina Surnovska who was absolutely everywhere in that game first game, didn’t even have one chance. The visiting team were on the back foot all match.
The second half went the same way as the first, only with Extra Time and the dreaded ‘P’ word looming on the horizon. With nothing coming in the way of Slovakian attacks, it felt like Cymru was the only side that was going to score, the only fear amongst Y Wal Goch was the game going to penalties.
Cymru did manage to put the ball into the net twice in the second half only for the celebrations to be cut short by the Assistant Referee’s flag. Worries that there wouldn’t be a second goal only grew as the second half quickly turned to extra time.
During the first half of Extra Time, Cymru had more energy and Slovakia looked to be running on empty. Any break away chances they had were broken up by the Cymru midfield. After Olivia Clark’s heroics on Friday, she did not have to make a save tonight. Cymru limited Slovakia to only 2 shots, neither of which were on target, compared to the 20 shots with 5 on target for Cymru.
Embed from Getty ImagesThen, with 112 minutes on the clock, Josie Green won the ball in her own half and passed to Jess Fishlock. She lifted a fantastic ball over the top to Kayleigh Barton who chested the ball down with a great first touch, heading towards goal. The 10,000 fans were on their feet expecting to celebrate the goal that would send Cymru into the Playoff Final, only to see the ball hit the post. The ball then in a very un-Welsh way rebounded into the path of Ceri Holland, who brought the ball down and smashed the ball in from ten yards. With the crowd going wild it slowly dawned on the players and fans alike that the Assistant Referee, who had previously disallowed two goals, had raised her flag again.
With Slovakian players still on the floor and fans in the crowd certain that Kayleigh Barton was onside, Hannah Cain produce the assist of her career when she asked the referee ‘What about VAR?’ With that the ref brought her finger to her ear to signal that the goal was being checked. In what seemed like forty minutes, but in reality was four, the referee Ewa Augustyn blew her whistle, made the sign for a TV screen, blew the whistle again and signaled for a goal. Sending the crowd mad and Cymru five minutes away from the Playoff final. Cymru saw out the final five minutes (and 2 more for added time) with a final chance going to Mary McAteer.
Embed from Getty ImagesAt the final whistle an emotional rendition of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau rung out around the stadium. Cymru are only two games away from reaching their first tournament. A tournament that will change everything for football in this country. Ireland stand in the way of history, with the first leg in Cardiff. Y Wal Goch let’s fill the stadium and send the team off to become Welsh legends.