Mark Goddard looks at the nail-biting closing game of the window; Wales 1 Czech Republic 0
Wales passed the test and beat the Czech Republic 1-0 in this hugely important World cup qualifier. Dan James rose majestically to nod home a vintage Bale cross in the 81st minute to give us the victory. This Czech team look decent and to be honest, played the far better football all night. They will feel very aggrieved to come away with nothing but it is all about the win and Wales managed that with a high-quality goal. I will very happily take that on a night we performed below par.
Embed from Getty ImagesWe witnessed two red cards, one per team, the first a straight red for Schick which looked a little harsh and probably should have been a yellow after brushing his hand/arm/elbow into Connor Roberts’ face and Connor Roberts himself was later sent off for a second bookable offence that looked even more harsh. But it took that for the match to finally open up and for Wales to finally create a few chances.
The game was crying out for a Ramsey tonight, a player who would give us quality down the middle and slip a pass to Bale, Moore or James. Sadly we lacked this ability all night. But we were thankfully saved by the brilliance once more from Bale – a better shimmy and pinpoint, high speed cross you will struggle to find. The header from James did it justice, a huge leap and perfect contact – another top class Wales goal.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe best the Czechs came was very late on and ended with a ridiculous block from my man of the match Joe Rodon, who somehow managed to deflect the ball safely over the bar. As good as a goal scored – match winning. This topped his commanding performance at the heart of the defence.
First Half- Playing away
The first half saw us play like the away team, sitting back and happy to concede possession. The Czechs looked confident, passed the ball sharply and looked to play on the front foot. They dictated play for long periods and generated a couple of chances for the dangerous Jankto. We strangely seemed happy to hit long, high balls to a big man that wasn’t actually on the pitch. All the good things we did v Mexico – energy, desire, pressing, confidence on the ball, crisp passing- were missing.
But just after the half hour we created the best chance with Bale running in and meeting a Dan James cross. He got a half decent connection but sadly hitting it too close to the keeper, who made a good save from close range. After this we slowly got into the game and ended the half better than we started it.
Embed from Getty ImagesSecond Half- Moore of the same?
Immediately into the second half the Czech red card disrupted their dominance and the game got messy with gaps opening. We reverted to a back four and just as we thought Wales would go on and take control it did not happen, even with the early introduction of Kieffer Moore. In fact the Czechs still looked dangerous and broke through only for Lawrence to put in a terrific lunging tackle to deny a tap in. And just as we introduced Jonny Williams on 76 minutes, the only real creative option left after the infamous late night trio match ban, Roberts got himself sent off. To be honest, the Czechs looked favourites to win it at that stage.
Embed from Getty ImagesBut it took great belief, a top-quality attacking move that gave us the goal and huge desire to defend the lead that has given us three points and a very respectable start to our campaign. It will be interesting to see how this Czech team progress through the group. They will be up there challenging but we can take some relief in the knowledge that we have beaten them without three key players – Ramsey, Allen and Ben Davies. Onwards and upwards, all to play for.
Photo credit: first photo of Bale Jon Candy from Cardiff, Wales, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; (cropped) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ashley_Williams,_Gareth_Bale.jpg