Page’s men rise to League A with a 3-1 win at the Cardiff City Stadium
ROB Page’s Wales team secured promotion to the highest tier of the UEFA Nations League last night after a comfortable victory against Finland’s 10 men.
Harry Wilson, Connor Roberts and James Lawrence were brought into Wales’s starting line-up in place of David Brooks, Neco Williams and the suspended Ben Davies, and it was Wilson who made an early impact to put Wales on the front foot.
Finland’s Jere Uronen was sent off after just 12 minutes after bringing Wilson down on the edge of the penalty area, with the Cardiff City loanee through on goal after some quick thinking and excellent distribution from goalkeeper Danny Ward.
Midway through the first half, Wilson opened the scoring with a cool finish after being played through on goal by captain Gareth Bale.
Manchester United winger Daniel James extended Wales’s lead at the start of the second half with a powerful strike into the top corner from just outside the box.
Norwich City striker Teemu Pukki pulled a goal back for Finland to end Wales’s run of seven consecutive competitive clean sheets, but substitute Kieffer Moore headed in James’s cross in the 84th minute to seal the win.
Last night’s result was the first time Wales have scored more than one goal in a match since November 2019.
Bale, who is returning to full fitness after re-joining Tottenham Hotspur on loan from Real Madrid, was substituted after 61 minutes. Tom Lawrence, Tyler Roberts and Brooks all made appearances off the bench, while Chris Gunter entered the fray in the 92nd minute to earn his 99th Wales cap.
The result secured Wales’s place in League A of the competition by winning their group, which they achieved unbeaten, conceding only one goal in six matches.
Caretaker manager Rob Page, who led the team for their November matches in Ryan Giggs’s absence, said: “I am extremely proud of that group of players, as is Ryan.
“He is extremely proud of the players and how they’ve gone about their business and how they’ve handled the camp.
“To show the resilience which they’ve shown and to win the group in the manner in which they’ve done, he is a very, very proud man.”
As well as giving Wales the opportunity to play Europe’s elite international teams in competitive matches on a regular basis in the next Nations League instalment, promotion puts Wales in a strong position for getting a play-off spot for the 2022 World Cup should they need it.
If Wales fail to win their World Cup qualifying group and qualify for the World Cup automatically, they could enter the play-offs based on their new Nations League ranking. There, they would join the 10 best runners-up from the World Cup qualifying groups to compete for the remaining European places at the World Cup finals in Qatar.
Wales will earn €1.5 million for competing in the Nations League and will receive an additional €1.5 million for winning their group.
