Wales needed to beat Croatia to keep their automatic qualification hopes alive and how they got a barnstorming performance to match. Harry Wilson was the match-winner on a supercharged night, scoring twice to hoist Wales into second in Group D and take matters into their hands, but there were no end of moments to savour from this monumental victory over a team ranked sixth in the world.
None more so than the sight of Wales’s centre-back, Ben Davies, the captain’s armband on his left biceps, on the rampage, on a one-man mission to close down the Croatia goalkeeper, Dominik Livakovic, midway through the second half before then going to ground to nick the ball from Luka Modric.
The Croatia substitute Mario Pasalic ensured a tense finish, heading in at a corner, but Wales held on to register another one of those special Cardiff nights. A few minutes after the final whistle Wales’s entire squad and staff gathered in a huddle on halfway, before drinking in the occasion with their supporters. “Ben [Davies] took it [the team talk] and said ‘Yma o Hyd’, we’re still here, we’re still in it, we’re two wins away from qualifying again from another major tournament,” Rob Page said. “It’s in our hands and we’ll be going for it.”
Emotions had heightened in recent days owing to the chief executive, Noel Mooney, openly casting doubt over Page’s future before Wales trounced Gibraltar in Wrexham on Wednesday. Davies did not dress it up and described those comments as unhelpful. Tears were in Page’s eyes at his pre-match press conference and he was visibly choked again before kick-off when Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau reverberated around this stadium.
“It was just unnecessary noise coming into it, it’s like we’re having to fight fires,” Page said afterwards. “We are two wins away from qualifying for a fourth major tournament [in five].”
After Wilson’s second goal, Page punched the air with both hands and was mobbed by his staff, the sports scientist Ronan Kavanagh almost rugby tackling his manager such was his exuberance. Three of Page’s backroom staff had joined him at his pre-match press conference in a show of support. “I feel proud, relieved,” Page said. “Understandably there are going to be people who are not a fan of mine – fine, you’re not going to please everybody – but when you’ve got a group of players playing for you like that, I’m immensely proud to be their manager.”
Croatia came into this game sore after a home defeat to Turkey in Osijek on Thursday and another loss only increased the pain. They could not live with Wales’s intensity and aggression. Ethan Ampadu, who joined second-tier Leeds in the summer, and Jordan James, the Birmingham City teenager, were superb against one of the most-envied three-man midfields in the game. Davies, Joe Rodon and Chris Mepham were first to what felt like almost every ball and David Brooks was majestic on the right flank, freeing Wilson for Wales’s first meaningful foray. Wilson was fouled by Domagoj Vida, who, luckily, had Josko Gvardiol for cover, and sent the subsequent free-kick close.
Wales deserved a reward for their first-half efforts but they had to wait two minutes into the second until they got one. Croatia did not deal with Danny Ward’s booming kick downfield and Wilson latched on to Brooks’s pass to expertly hook the ball over Livakovic. Wilson, this his 50th cap since making his debut at the age of 16, slid on his knees in front of the Red Wall, who had been unusually muted despite Wales’s dominance. Perhaps it was the nervous energy?
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It is fair to say most of that dissipated when Wilson doubled their lead on the hour. The substitute Daniel James sent a feathery right-foot cross in from the left and Wilson improvised, glancing the ball into the far corner off the back of his head. Gvardiol placed his hands on his head and soon after Zlatko Dalic, the Croatia manager, puffed his cheeks as Lovro Majer’s dangerous cross went unmet. His team struck when Pasalic headed in a Modric corner, inadvertently diverted to the back post by Moore. But Dalic conceded his team were again off-colour. “In the [previous] two and a half years we had two losses and now in three days we have the same amount,” Dalic said. “We have to believe that we are going to be able to turn this around and be better than we were in these two games [this month].”
Pasalic’s goal ensured a nerve-shredding finale – Wales supporters responded to Ward gobbling up a cross deep into five minutes of second-half stoppage time as if they had scored a third goal – but the hosts held on for a win that will live long in the memory. “It is another special night at the Cardiff City Stadium,” Page said.
