Daniel James heads Wales past Czech Republic to cap game of two red cards
The “Robocop” was in the Czech Republic ranks but on the night Wales came out on top in a spiky game where both sides apparently broke laws to end with 10 men. Against a team renowned for their aerial ability, one of the smallest players on the pitch popped up to power in a header and get his side’s World Cup qualifying campaign up and running.
Gareth Bale picked out Daniel James with a pin-perfect cross and the winger elevated at the back post, as if under his captain’s spell, to crash in nine minutes from time.
It was the kind of header that Tomas Soucek, one of the threats Wales were well versed on, would have been proud of. Bale’s cross after bringing Vladimir Coufal – the West Ham defender whose Robocop nickname has followed him from Slavia Prague – to a standstill was delicious, James’s finish emphatic but by the end of a tempestuous game, a medley of heroic clearances rivalled that header as the standout moment.
James Lawrence superbly snaffled the ball away from Lukas Provod as the striker bore down on goal but Joe Rodon’s match-winning block to deny Ondrej Celustka a stoppage-time equaliser was surely the pick of the bunch.
“For a defender, that’s as good as scoring a goal,” said the Wales assistant coach Robert Page, who led the team for a sixth successive match in the absence of Ryan Giggs. “They would have enjoyed that little battle at the end: five minutes, ‘put your tin hat on, dig a trench, and rise to the challenge.’”
Wales had to weather the storm with the Czech midfielder Jakub Jankto twice going close before Bale passed up the best chance of the first half. Neco Williams eluded Coufal on the left flank and his cross caught Celustka on his heels in the six-yard box. Bale bolted in front of Jan Boril to meet the ball on the volley but failed to connect cleanly, allowing the goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik to palm over. Until then Wales had to firefight, typified by Joe Morrell – who replaced Joe Allen in the only change from the side that started the defeat to Belgium last week – snatching the ball from Jankto just as the midfielder sensed blood on the counterattack as the visitors spied another opening.
Rodon roared with relief after making that crucial intervention late on and given Wales filed this game into the must-not-lose category, unsurprisingly there was needle throughout.
Patrik Schick was given a straight red card three minutes into the second half after foolishly shoving his hands into the face of Connor Roberts, who was booked for his role in the contretemps at a free-kick. Roberts then picked up a dubious second yellow card 13 minutes from time when attempting to challenge the towering Soucek for a header. Ovidiu Hategan, the Romanian referee, seemed to indicate Schick was sent off for appearing to elbow Roberts in the buildup to their grappling inside the box and both players will feel aggrieved at the punishments handed down.
Despite this being only Wales’s second qualifying game, Belgium’s status as the No 1 team in the world and therefore favourites to top Group E – backed up by an 8-0 demolition of Belarus on Tuesday – meant there was heightened importance on this occasion and the magnitude of victory was not lost on Bale, who shrieked with delight at full time. “It was massively important to get the victory,” Bale said. “We showed a lot of heart and desire and matched a very physical Czech team. Pagey has kept us focused through thick and thin, no matter what’s going on on and off the field. We stuck to our gameplan.”
Page turned to target man Kieffer Moore off the bench in search of a winner, but it was James who leaped to beat Boril in the air to strike. “If I’d have said before the game that DJ would’ve been hanging at the back post and scoring a header, you’d question it, but we found a way to win,” Page said. “We knew we were in for a battle tonight and they didn’t disappoint. At times they had six players up front and we had to deal with the aerial threat.”