Qatar 2022: Heartbreak for Ukraine as Wales reach first World Cup in 64 years
What a night this was for Wales who have suffered so many cruel set-back in previous attempts to reach a World Cup Final
Though it looked like an eternity. the endless wait for Wales to take part in the FIFA Senior World Cup is now.
It has taken 64 years for Wales, and 16 years for Gareth Bale, but, finally, both will be playing in a World Cup Finals after an emotional, passionate and pulsating play-off victory over Ukraine in Cardiff.
Bale, the winger who started his career in 2006 and who has won just about every trophy in club football since, played a major part on an historic night, sending over a free-kick which was headed home by the unfortunate Andriy Yarmolenko to seal a 1-0 victory.
It set off scenes of remarkable celebrations in the Welsh capital as Wales supporters were finally able to dream about facing England, the United States and Iran in Qatar later this year.
In any other year, it would have been a happy night for neutrals, too, given the affection many hold for a national side which has represented the underdog so well in recent years.
But given the war in Ukraine, and the unthinkable agony and pain its citizens are going through following Russia’s invasion, it was tinged with sadness.
Ukraine’s story on the football pitch had the making of a fairytale, a chance to bring a little light to its people in the middle of so much darkness.
But it was not to be; and up against a Wales side which had been unbeaten at home in their last 18 matches, it proved to be one step too far, despite the obvious quality of a team led so superbly by the energy and skill of Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko.
What a night this was for Wales who have suffered so many cruel set-back in previous attempts to reach a World Cup Final and who currently have possibly the strongest squad in their entire football history.
A lot of the focus was on Bale, whose career at Real Madrid is now at an end, and who was hoping to finally add a World Cup to his remarkable CV.
But there were other heroes, not least goalkeeper Wayne Hennessy and defender Ben Davies who were both outstanding.
Bale, however, was always going to be involved if things went well and now he has a chance to underline his place in football history.
Three La Liga titles, a record five Champions League victories, three Uefa Super Cups, three FIFA World Club Cups sums up his quality, but creating an international legacy is tougher when you play for a smaller country like Wales. Now he has a chance.
The Welsh hadn’t been to a World Cup Finals since 1958, when a goal from a then-unknown 17-year-old Pele knocked them out in the quarter-final. But now Bale, after 103 caps and 38 goals, can write a different chapter.
You have to take a moment, however, to feel for Ukraine, who played so well and were so unlucky to lose.
