“They’re not a good side. You’ve seen two poor sides trying to contest this group – neither has a glimmer of hope qualifying.”
The last time Wales hosted Finland in a qualifying match for a major tournament, Craig Bellamy didn’t pull his punches. The visitors triumphed 2-0 over John Toshack’s charges at a sparsely populated Millennium Stadium in March 2009, and the bristling Welsh skipper was spot on – neither nation came close to reaching the 2010 World Cup.
15 years ago, these two countries had just one major tournament outing between them – the Dragons’ foray to the 1958 World Cup – but their chances of reaching Euro 2024 are decent, as they go head-to-head in a play-off semi-final showdown at Cardiff City Stadium on Thursday night.
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Wales have qualified for three of the last four major tournaments, Finland made Euro 2020 and, crucially, whoever wins the semi-final will have a home tie in the final on Tuesday, against Poland or Estonia.
For both, though, the challenge is to qualify with their star players either on the wane or, in Gareth Bale’s case, gone altogether. Bale scored all three Wales goals in the play-offs for the 2022 World Cup at home to Austria and Ukraine, and while Aaron Ramsey is still around, the 33-year-old goes into this match on the way back from injury.
Wales do at least have other attacking options: Brennan Johnson, Harry Wilson, Daniel James, David Brooks and Nathan Broadhead are among those vying for the starting positions.
Finland’s Teemu Pukki is also 33 now and notched a paltry two goals during the Huuhkajat’s qualifying group, compared with double figures in their successful campaign four years ago. After ditching Norwich for MLS last summer, however, he did net 10 in his opening 14 appearances for Minnesota United, including a four-goal haul against LA Galaxy in October.
Wales are in the play-offs courtesy of the Nations League – of the 16 sides in League A during the last edition, only they and Poland failed to qualify for Euro 2024 automatically, so both were guaranteed spots, with Finland slingshotted in from League B to fill one of the two spare places.
Rob Page’s men are unbeaten in six games, including an October triumph over Croatia, following an iffy start to qualifying. Armenia won 4-2 in Wales last June – any aberrations like that and the Euros are over, but a repeat of Croatia and Cardiff will surely luxuriate in more play-off jubilation.
The biggest issue is in goal – Danny Ward hasn’t played a single club game this season, and the same goes for two of his back-ups, Wayne Hennessey and Tom King. The other goalkeeper, Adam Davies, has played just once in the League Cup. Rust seems inevitable.
With Bale long departed, Wales need the new generation to make themselves heroes. Johnson & Co, your time is now.
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