Wales reach the World Cup the hard way on a night football sadly couldn’t produce two fairy tales – The Warm-Up

From Wales to Qatar Wales boss Robert Page set the bar pretty high when declaring the World Cup play-off against Ukraine as the biggest match in Welsh history, and the backdrop to yesterday’s tie only made the task even harder. Ad/> With the neutral willing Ukraine on, Wales had to focus, write their own history, and try to reach the World Cup under circumstances few others would wish upon themselves, and ultimately it was decided by the cruellest of margins – an Andriy Yarmolenko own goal ending Ukraine’s World Cup dream and sending Wales to the finals for the first time since 1958.

World Cup Qualification UEFABale to postpone retirement 'for a little bit' after Wales qualify for World Cup13 HOURS AGO A frantic affair could have produced at least five goals, and should really have seen Ukraine awarded a penalty in the first half, but in the end it was Wayne Hennessey and Ben Davies who proved the difference, denying Ukraine time and again to book their own spot in Qatar. «I probably think that's my best game in a Welsh shirt to be honest,” Hennessey admitted, and what a time to do it, while an ecstatic Gareth Bale added: „It's the greatest result in the history of Welsh football.” /> This really does mean more to Bale, and with talk about his future — and even retirement — surrounding the now former Real Madrid forward, few could begrudge him this moment, and we’ll get at least six more months of Bale playing football (in a Cardiff shirt?) before the nervy group game against England plays out.

Of course, it all came at Ukraine’s expense. Their participation alone was admirable, their performance against Scotland was something else, and on another day a handful of their chances against Wales would have gone in and they’d