Day the Welsh dream became a nightmare
THEY had been dreaming of glory after 64 years in the World Cup wilderness.
But heartbroken Wales fans saw their hopes crumble in 180 seconds just before the final whistle yesterday. Iran snatched two goals in injury time after Welsh goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was sent off for a reckless ‘kung fu’ challenge.
Thousands of Welsh children watching on TV were left stunned by the 2-0 loss to underdogs Iran, who were thrashed 6-2 by England on Monday.
Schools across the principality had cancelled lessons to allow pupils to cheer on The Dragons after they reached their first World Cup finals since 1958. Wales, who play England in their last group match next Tuesday, now face the prospect of an early flight home. They drew their first match with USA 1-1, but their hopes of progressing were last night hanging by a thread.
Yesterday Wales struggled in the first half, with an Iranian goal ruled off- side. Shortly after halftime it was hearts in mouth again as Iran struck both Welsh goalposts within seconds. Then there were groans as Hennessey, 35, felled Iran’s striker Mehdi Taremi.
His disastrous sending- off saw him lampooned on social media where his challenge was compared to the ‘crane technique’ in film The Karate Kid.
Crestfallen captain Gareth Bale said after the game: ‘It’s gutting, we’re gutted – there’s no other way to say it. We fought to the last seconds but it’s difficult to take.
‘We have to pick ourselves up straight away. It’s going to be difficult but we have one game left. We will have to see. What can I say? We’ll recover and we have to go again.’ Bale had begged schools across Wales to allow children to watch the game saying it was a ‘history lesson’ which he hoped would inspire the nation.
Hundreds of schools agreed to the idea, with many pupils dressed in red shirts and bucket hats for the morning – as pubs and fan zones were also packed for the 10am kick- off. The Dragons saluted thousands of their loyal fans in the stadium in Doha.
The team tweeted: ‘Tough result but wonderful support once again from The Red Wall. The support from back home in Wales was also extraordinary.’ Outside the stadium, Gareth and Claire Griffiths, retired civil servants from Cardiff, said their reaction to the result was ‘unprintable’.
Mrs Griffiths, 59, said: ‘It’s such a disappointment after they have done so well to get here. To lose at the end was heartbreaking. But we still have hope. We don’t want the team to see it as a failure.’ Gareth Newell, 39, of Rhymney, Gwent, who spent £2,500 to travel to the tournament, said: ‘I’m gutted. We need a miracle now.’
He added: ‘You can see why it took us 64 years to reach the finals when we play like that.’
Bale and other players made a defiant protest against Fifa’s ban on the rainbow armband by wearing multi- coloured stripes when they came on to the pitch for the warm-up. A total of 6,000 Wales supporters were in the stadium, with half living in the Middle East, compared to 30,000 Iran fans.