Brash Rob Page issued a defiant message to Robert Lewandowski and Poland as Wales moved within 90 minutes of a place at Euro 2024 by sweeping aside Finland.
Lewandowski’s men stand between Wales and qualification for a third straight tournament and Page is full of confidence.
‘Bring it on,’ said Page. ‘I can’t wait for Tuesday. What more motivation do we need than to be one win away from another major tournament? The boys will be ready.
‘We have a younger, fitter squad than before and we have a hell of a chance to qualify. We have a lot of young players but they also have plenty of experience now. If we can reproduce how we played against Croatia and Turkey in the group, the result will take care of itself.
‘We’ve been there, picked the hotel and got the training ground. We’re ready to go to Germany. We just need one more result to get across the line.’
Wales boss Rob Page issued a defiant message to Poland after brushing aside Finland
David Brooks gave Wales the perfect start as he scored the opening goal in the third minute
The midfielder volleyed in on the rebound after Harry Wilson’s shot was saved by the keeper
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Yet this game was as much an indictment of UEFA’s bloated 24-team tournament as it was a celebration of Page and his players. These days it feels harder to miss out on international competitions than it does to reach them.
Goals from David Brooks, Neco Williams, Brennan Johnson and substitute Dan James were enough to see Wales yet how a team as poor as Finland can get this 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 both 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 they will care.
In front of the Cardiff crowd, you would be brave to back against them despatching Poland, too. The home fans were in superb voice here, delivering all the old hits to create an atmosphere that would intimidate teams better than Finland.
Wales fans are accustomed 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.
Neco Williams doubled Wales’ lead with a beautiful curling free-kick in the 38th minute
Finland were given a lifeline when Teemu Pukki finished calmly shortly before the break
With Brooks, Wilson and Johnson a mobile front three, Wales were at their most effective when breaking on the Finns.
Yet Wales did switch off at the back occasionally. Daniel Hakans volleyed Ahlo’s knock-down over and 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.
Shortly before the half-hour, Hakans trod on the ball when teed up in a fine position and the follow-up from Joel Pohjanpalo was blocked. At the other end, Wilson saw a 30-yard effort pushed away before Chris Mepham’s misplaced pass fell straight to Pukki, who could not take advantage.
Moments later, Wales were two up. Johnson was brought down on the edge of the box, Wilson set up Williams from the free-kick and the Nottingham Forest man found the top corner.
By now Wales must have felt they had one foot in the play-off final yet soon they were bracing themselves for a tricky second half. Pohjanpalo turned Ahlo’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.
Yet the home side’s nerves were calmed barely a minute in the second half. Wilson’s free-kick was nodded back 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.
Even though they had plenty of height at the back, Finland were oddly vulnerable from set pieces and so it proved again in the 80th minute as Hradecky got both hands to Davies’ header but could not stop it creeping over the line.
The Finns embarrassment was spared when the goal was disallowed for a foul after a VAR check but this was never going to change the outcome. And sure enough, the fourth arrived when James robbed a dawdling Miro Tenho, rounded Hradecky and slotted home.
Brennan Johnson restored the two-goal advantage by scoring 90 seconds into the second half
Ben Davies headed home for Wales but it was ruled out for offside following a VAR review
Substitute Dan James added a late fourth on his 50th cap to seal an impressive victory