Wales have secured qualification for the World Cup for the first time in 64 years after they recorded a 1-0 win over Ukraine in the final play-off on Sunday.
While the Welsh team overcame Austria in the semi-final thanks to a brace from their captain Gareth Bale, Ukraine surprised many as they overcame Scotland 3-1 in their semi-final tie.
Unfortunately, the fairy tale run of the war-torn country was halted on Sunday as Wales emerged victorious in the all-important decider.
What ended up to be the winning goal came in the first half when Ukraine’s Andriy Yarmolenko deflected a Bale free-kick into his net.
The Eastern European outfit created plenty of clear-cut chances to equalise but the spectacular performance of Wayne Hennessey in-between the sticks for Wales denied them a way through.
Ukraine were also somewhat controversially denied a penalty when Yarmolenko appeared to be clipped inside the area by Joe Allen.
Despite the luxury of VAR being available, the referee stood his ground not to award the penalty and that understandably infuriated everyone associated with Ukraine.
Wales on their part held on to the slim lead to deny war-ravaged Ukraine a fairytale triumph amid the horrible invasion from Vladimir Putin and Russia.
Wales who last featured in the World Cup in 1958 will now face England, the United States and Iran in the group stages in Qatar in the first World Cup to be held in the winter later this year.
WATCH: Governor Yahaya Bello’s Roadmap to Hope 2023
Support PREMIUM TIMES’ journalism of integrity and credibility
Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.
By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.
Donate
TEXT AD: Why women cheat: what every Nigerian man should know
(function() {
var _fbq = window._fbq || (window._fbq = []);
if (!_fbq.loaded) {
var fbds = document.createElement(‘script’);
fbds.async = true;
fbds.src = ‘//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbds.js’;
var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(fbds, s);
_fbq.loaded = true;
}
_fbq.push([‘addPixelId’, ‘756614861070731’]);
})();
window._fbq = window._fbq || [];
window._fbq.push([‘track’, ‘PixelInitialized’, {}]);
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;
n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,
document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=249643311490&version=v2.3’; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
