THE NATIONS LEAGUE REVIEWED
Photo by Andrew Dowling [andrewdowlingphotography.co.uk]
Sam Southall
With ensanguined Dutch skies over Rotterdam, a stadium shaded in oranje and coch, the 2021/2022 season has finally come to an end. This last international break provided an eventful epilogue for this season and an exciting prologue for the next. Five games over the space of two weeks would prove to be a challenge to any team at any point of the season, but doing so at the end of such a long season and with the pressure of a spot at the World Cup up for grabs seemingly meant that this would be a hard 14 days for Rob Page’s men.
After 4 great performances in the Nations League and a below-average performance in the World Cup playoff against Ukraine, we somehow sit bottom of League A’s Group 4 but with a spot at the World Cup in Qatar. No, I can’t figure out how that happened either, but I’m not going to complain.
Obviously, the World Cup playoff game was by far the most important game of the last few weeks. Winning against Ukraine would end a 64 year wait for a second appearance at World Cup and put Wales on a global stage like never before. It was the biggest game in our history and the biggest result too. But, as much as I’d like it to be, this isn’t a piece about Cymru reaching the World Cup – many writers have covered the game much better than I ever could (and I would heartily recommend pieces by Megan Feringa, Ian Mitchelmore, Elis James and Jonathan Wilson to name but a few).
But back to the Nations League. We’re now on the third iteration of the competition and, for the first time, we’re playing with the big boys – Van Gaal’s Netherlands, Lewandowski’s Poland and, our favourite team to upset, Belgium. Our League A campaign kicked off with our second (or third?) strength team and a late, narrow 2-1 loss away to Poland in Wroclaw. It was a great performance from the players on the pitch, some of them playing out of position (like Matt Smith at right-wingback), and included an impressive debut from Wes Burns. Two late and avoidable goals were our downfall against a mostly full-strength Poland team that day, but most would agree that sacrificing that game to keep our first XI fit and healthy for the game against Ukraine was the right decision. Great performance, unlucky result, we move on.
After seeing off a lively Ukraine team and, lest I remind you, qualifying for the World Cup, we welcomed the Netherlands to Cardiff. Again, it wasn’t quite a full strength team from the start, but Connor Roberts, Joe Rodon, Ben Davies and Harry Wilson returned to the fold – the team provided a possible look at a future Wales without Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen.
For most of the game, it was an incredibly positive look at the future. We held the Netherlands goalless at the break and, although we conceded weakly 5 minutes into the second half, we were level by the 92nd minute and looked headed for our first ever point against the Netherlands. Rhys Norrington-Davies scored a towering header off a cross from Connor Roberts on the opposite flank and the celebrations ensued. We had left our mark on the Netherlands at last and were picking up our first point of the campaign... until we weren’t. Frenkie de Jong had other ideas, carried the ball up half the pitch, leaving a trail of red shirts in his wake and, before you knew it, Burnley’s Wout Weghorst had stuck the ball in the back of the net. Go damia. Bale talked about needing to learn the “dark arts” after the match and he was right, but equally the issue could’ve been solved had the young players just managed to keep their attention for the last minute of the game. The naivety showed, but lesson learnt, surely?
Last Saturday’s match has proved to be the most fruitful so far. No longer are we pointless. Wales’ first point of the group came against our Flemish and Walloon friends who, at this point, must be wondering how and why they spend so much time in Cardiff City Stadium. Ethan Ampadu, who quietly put in some of the best performances of the international break, scored an absolute screamer a handful of minutes into the game... only for VAR to rightly (sadly) rule it out for an offside in the build-up. Other than that, a relatively uneventful first half followed, with the exception of losing Joe Allen to injury, which saw one Aaron Ramsey introduced from the bench. Again 0-0 at the break, Arsenal-linked Youri Tielemans scored a handful of minutes into the second half (but he’ll never be as good in the red and white as Ramsey, let me tell you). However, Belgium weren’t dominant and didn’t look like sealing a result, Ramsey ran rampant and created more chances than the whole Belgium team put together. Kevin de Bruyne, who on his last visit was dubbed a “shit Aaron Ramsey”, was downgraded to a “shit Joe Allen” and was subbed off for Eden Hazard, who made about as much of an impact on this game as he has on Real Madrid. In the 86th minute, the inevitable happened – Aaron Ramsey did what Aaron Ramsey does best. On the edge of the box, Ramsey stretched for a ball that seemed lost, rose to his feet and, with a wall of Belgians in front of him, pulled out a magnificent roulette-pass to play Brennan Johnson in for his first Cymru goal. A lengthy VAR check served only to run down the clock on our behalf before the final whistle signalled Wales 1, Belgium 1. Diolch am ddod, dere nôl yn fuan!
Which brings us back to sunny Rotterdam and the Oranje. The first half was, frankly, the shoddiest 45 minutes of football that we had played during the international break. Chris Mepham and Joe Rodon became football’s answer to the Chuckle Brothers for the first half, leaving Wayne Hennessey to pick the ball out of his own net twice in the first 25 minutes, while they performed the classic “To me, to you” routine to the Netherlands front line with little success. Chris Mepham is no Barry Chuckle. Brennan Johnson picked up his second international goal to keep us in the game but, despite a more well-rounded performance, all seemed lost until a Welsh penalty in the 92nd minute. Bale stepped up and, as he’s done more than any other Welsh man, Bale slotted it home. 2-2, game over, lesson learnt, second point of the group, happy days... you what? It can’t be? Again!? “‘Go damia’ ddeudis i a ‘go damia’ on i’n feddwl.”
Despite Memphis Depay turning up in the 93rd minute to ruin the day and snatch a second point from our grasp, it has been a really good international break. Four great performances overall, two vintage Wales Away trips (or so I’m told, I rarely leave the house, let alone Wales), a Nations League point and a World Cup spot would’ve been considered a successful result by most going into the international break. But the tinge of disappointment we’ve been left with is a sign of how far we’ve come and every positive step we’ve made along the way. We never played our full strength XI in a Nations League game but our youngsters, raised in the Welsh Way’s philosophy, performed admirably and they’re only going to get better.
Bale, Ramsey and Allen – the holy trinity – each had starring roles in different games but they didn’t carry the team, not like they used to. Ben Davies reached even higher heights, Ethan Ampadu showed leadership beyond his years and ran games from midfield like we all thought he could do, and Brennan Johnson showed us why he’s tipped to be the next big thing. Just about every player had their moment – James, Wilson, Roberts, Neco, Morrell, Thomas, Smith, Levitt, Burns, Norrington-Davies, Rodon – and each showed that they are more than capable of raising Cymru up for the next generation. Will they do so? Only time will tell, but performances in this year’s Nations League so far have offered a glimpse into a bright future.
Oh, and we’re off to a World Cup, not sure I mentioned that.