Inspired Wales on the brink of Euros as limited Finland are brushed aside
ONE down, one to go. Wales are 90 minutes from qualifying for a third successive major tournament and will reach Euro 2024 if they beat Poland on Tuesday.
Yet this game was as much an indictment of UEFA’s bloated 24-team tournament as it was a celebration of Rob Page and his players. These days it feels harder to miss out on international competitions than it does to qualify for them and some of the football on show here — particularly from Finland — proved the point.
Goals from David Brooks, Neco Williams, Brennan Johnson and substitute Dan James were enough to see Wales through to meet Robert Lewandowski and Co here on Tuesday yet how a team as poor as Finland can get so close to reaching the finals beggars belief. They briefly gave themselves a chance when Teemu Pukki scored just before half-time yet threw that away by conceding the third less than two minutes after the break.
Pukki, Glen Kamara and Nikolai Alho aside, the Finns looked no better than a League One team. By making spots available through qualifying and the Nations League, UEFA risk devaluing their elite tournament.
Consider this: Wales finished third in their group behind Turkey and Croatia, yet entered the play-offs thanks to Nations League performances and landed a home tie against Markku Kanerva’s plodders. Poland are a much tougher proposition but if Wales qualify, it will have been not so much via the back door as under the garden gate and through the cat flap.
Not that Wales will care. Even without Gareth Bale, who retired after their woeful performance at the last World Cup, Page can count on a number of talented players who had more than enough to brush Finland aside. And in front of the Cardiff crowd, you would be brave to bet against them dispatching Poland, too.
Wales fans are used to being put through the wringer by their team but this time they seized the lead almost immediately. Harry Wilson played a one-two with Ethan Ampadu and though Lukas Hradecky palmed away his shot, the ball fell perfectly for Brooks to volley into an unguarded net.
Still, Wales switched off at the back occasionally. Pukki was allowed to run on to a simple ball over the top from Robert Ivanov, only to steer his effort too close to Danny Ward.
At the other end, Wilson saw a 30-yard effort pushed away before Chris Mepham’s misplaced pass fell to Pukki, who could not take advantage.
Moments later, Wales were two up. Johnson was brought down on the edge of the box, Wilson rolled it to Williams from the freekick and the Nottingham Forest man found the top corner.
By now, Wales must have felt they had one foot in the play-off final. But soon they were bracing themselves for a tricky second half. Pohjanpalo turned Alho’s pass into the path of Pukki and the former Norwich man slid the ball past Ward to bring his team back into the game.
Those nerves were calmed barely a minute in the second half.
Wilson’s free-kick was nodded across goal by Ampadu and even though Brooks miskicked, Johnson was played onside and tapped in from two yards.
Their two-goal cushion restored, Wales knew there would be plenty of space on the break and Wilson might have scored a fourth soon after Kieffer Moore had replaced Brooks up front.
The Fulham man drifted inside on to his left foot and just missed the target from 20 yards.
The visitors were starting to grow frustrated and Hakans was booked for a clear dive as he tried to draw a foul from Joe Rodon.
Then Moore could have put the game to bed but fired too close to Hradecky on the angle.
Though they had plenty of height at the back, Finland were vulnerable from set-pieces and so it proved again in the 80th minute as Hradecky got both hands to Ben Davies’s header but could not stop it creeping over the line. Their embarrassment was spared when the goal was disallowed for a foul after a VAR check but this was never going to change the outcome.
Sure enough, the fourth arrived when James robbed a dawdling Miro Tenho, rounded Hradecky and slotted home.
WALES (3-4-3): Ward 6; Mepham 5.5, Rodon 6.5, Davies 6.5; Roberts 6, J James 6.5, Ampadu 7.5, Williams 7; Brooks 7 (Moore 61min), Johnson 6.5 (D James 73, 7), WILSON 8 (Broadhead 90). Scorers: Brooks 3, Williams 38, Johnson 47, James 86. Booked: J James, Wilson, Mepham, Moore. Manager: Rob Page 7. Referee: Istvan Kovacs (Rom) 6. Attendance: 32,162.