Dutch bring abrupt end to Wales’s World Cup party with Cardiff win

CARDIFF : A second-string Netherlands brought Wales back down to earth, after they secured World Cup qualification at the weekend, with a 2-1 away victory in Cardiff in the Nations League on Wednesday.

Wout Weghorst won the game for the Dutch in a dramatic finale, scoring with a header four minutes into stoppage time, straight after Wales looked to have snatched a late draw when Rhys Norrington-Davies netted two minutes into stoppage time.

Teun Koopmeiners opened the scoring five minutes into the second half to give the visitors the lead, after coach Louis van Gaal had changed his entire team from the side that opened their League A Group Four campaign with a 4-1 thumping of neighbours Belgium last Friday.

Wales also rested some of the senior players after winning a World Cup place for the first time in 64 years when they beat Ukraine 1-0 on Sunday, allowing fringe players to stake a claim for selection in the Qatar-bound team.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)