Wales qualify for first World Cup since 1958 after edging Ukraine in play-off final

The 32nd and last team in the World Cup won’t be the side most of the planet wanted. Far crueller things have happened to Ukraine this year but they were denied the expression of a nation’s identity and excellence that a place in the World Cup provides; denied, sadly, by one of their own. But if Wales had rarely been more unpopular outside the principality, after a 64-year exile, they could not afford to be sentimental. For six decades, the last player to score against them on the global stage has remained a teenaged Pele. All of that will change now. The class of 1958 are no longer the only Welshmen to qualify for the World Cup and it is a colossal achievement by Robert Page and his band of brothers.

If this represents the crowning glory of Gareth Bale’s career, if it means he and Aaron Ramsey are not destined to join Ian Rush and Ryan Giggs among the great Wales players who are denied the chance to show their talents alongside the world’s best, it was unsurprising the captain played a part in the goal that carries them to Qatar.

Not that it was an addition to the compendium of Bale wonder strikes. Instead, the decisive touch was applied not by the Wales captain but by his Ukraine counterpart. Only Andriy Shevchenko has scored more goals for Ukraine than Andriy Yarmolenko but an unwitting finish for Wales came a colossal cost. Haplessness has rarely been more heart-breaking.

Sympathy was already afforded to a team who wanted to earn their place at the World Cup; their anthem was applauded by the Wales fans, their players draped in their country’s flags as they sang it. They made a valiant attempt to show that football can be the most meaningful of distractions to a nation under siege. They have lost 20 percent of their