Wales 2-0 Croatia

Croatia 2-0 Wales
I’m so proud of Wales! A 2-0 defeat is practically a win. Let’s put this in perspective. If England had lost 15 players and then played Croatia, would they definitely have won? I’m not sure they would. England are a much bigger country than Wales and even with 15 players dropping out, they could still have ended up with a squad full of experienced Premier League players. Da iawn, Cymru.

Croatia were perhaps not at their best but they still played very well. Wales were undone by Croatia’s brilliance rather than their own ineptitude. To call Wales inept would be cruel and inaccurate. Okay, I’d probably say that anyway! But read the more neutral reports. ‘Beaten but not disgraced’ is one description, which seems to sum it up well.

Also, in a way, I’m not sure John Toshack set out to win it exactly. I’m sure he would have loved to win but I think his main interest was in having the chance to see all these new players and to make a judgement on whether any of them could be part of the Wales squad that takes on England, among other teams, in the Euro 2012 qualifiers. If he’d played his eleven best players for the full match, they would arguably have played better as a team than the 17 players did when chopped and changed throughout most of the second half.

Amid the disappointment of all the drop-outs, I think he’d have been happy with what he’d seen. Everyone expected Wales to get thrashed but 2-0 is hardly a thrashing. In fact, it could and should have been 2-1 if Wales’ goal hadn’t been ruled out for offside. Chris Gunter says that whether Simon Church was offside or not – and this is debatable – he didn’t actually touch the ball so the goal should have stood as a Chris Gunter goal. Simon wasn’t interfering with or impeding the goalkeeper.

Wayne Hennessey and Boaz Myhill each played half the match in goal and each let in one goal. Both keepers looked good, especially considering Wayne hasn’t played in the Premier League in 2010 while Bo lost his own first-team place about a month ago.

Wales played with three central defenders, not a formation of which Wales supporters seem to be a fan but understandable considering they were seriously short of midfielders – if they’d started with four midfielders, they’d have had none on the bench. Craig Morgan and Lewin Nyatanga don’t seem to have inspired a great deal of confidence but the presence of Ashley Williams must have been more reassuring. And let’s not forget, all three are more than adequate as Championship players and while Lewin does seem to have been around for a while (he is the second-youngest player ever to play for Wales, and was the youngest until Gareth Bale came along), he is still only 21 and will improve.

At full back, Wales had Chris Gunter and Sam Ricketts. Chris would have loved a win to take his mind off Nottingham Forest’s play-off semi-final defeat to Blackpool but was satisfied with and encouraged by the 2-0 defeat. Sam, Wales’ second-choice right back, also has Premier League experience. Both have recent experience of playing left back for their clubs which was very useful as Gareth Bale was out injured/resting. Without Gareth, Wales were still strong in the full back positions.

Andy Dorman has wanted to play for Wales for years although the rules meant that it was only recently, when the eligibility criteria changed, that he was able to be selected. The injuries gave Andy the chance to fulfil his dream and he acquitted himself well. He might struggle to break into a midfield ahead of the likes of Joe Ledley, Aaron Ramsey, Simon Davies, Jack Collison and Andy King (not to mention Joe Allen and David Vaughan) but it’s good to know he’s there and more than capable of playing is part. Vital Watford seem to think Andy could be joining their club this summer. No disrespect to his current club St Mirren but a move to the Championship is likely to increase his chances of continuing to be selected to Wales.

Mark Bradley was recently released by Walsall but he was nevertheless selected for first the under-21s before being promoted to the senior squad. On this showing, he shouldn’t be without a club for long.

The selection of defender Neil Taylor, currently at non-league Wrexham (who weren’t exactly pushing for promotion last season) seemed to highlight the depths to which Wales was forced to stoop. But he actually played well, despite being out of position in midfield and it is quite reassuring to learn that he’s again been linked to Championship Swansea City, whom you’d expect to be making another push for the play-offs this season. He might be playing non-league football but that doesn’t mean he’s bad.

Simon Church and Rob Earnshaw started the match in attack. Simon was particularly lively – my non-Welsh-speaking friend watched on Welsh TV and she says she heard the word ‘Church’ a lot. Rob showed why it’s so surprising many consider him to be Wales’ fifth-choice striker, behind Simon, Craig Bellamy, Ched Evans and Sam Vokes. The two were replaced by Premier League striker Sam Vokes (not that he gets regular Premier League games for Wolves but I’m hoping that will change) and Reading debutant Hal Robson-Kanu. All four strikers looked good. They didn’t actually put the ball in the net (well apart from Simon’s disallowed goal) but let’s not be too picky. It was promising and Wales will (I hope!) be a much stronger and more experienced team for the Euro 2012 qualifiers.