A General view of Cardiff City Stadium during the Sky Bet Championship match Cardiff City vs Plymouth Argyle at Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, United Kingdom, 26th December 2023 (Photo by Stan Kasala/News Images)
Mouths were slightly agape with news striker Kieffer Moore would replace David Brooks in the starting XI. Manager Rob Page had more than enough currency with which to play after his vindicated squad selection against Finland but the change was telling.
A contest billed to be defined by grit and toughness was being adhered to accordingly with Moore’s inclusion, Page decidedly attempting to match Poland for muscle. The flitting grace of Brooks, who later on was confirmed to have suffered from illness all week, would have to be reserved for later.
Poland, unchanged from their 5-1 rout of Estonia, were geed-up for the challenge. And while the hosts could at least vaunt home advantage, having lost no more than two home qualifiers since 2014 and just three at home in Page’s tenure, the tale of the tape lent in Poland’s favour.
Yet Wales’ recent history of success arrives from the team’s ability to read its long history, acknowledge it, then bin it, a chuck of the lighter in for good measure. By the same token, how often can one country of three million-plus carry on that mission?
The nature of the game was decided before a ball was kicked, anthem singing transforming into its own febrile battle ground. The home fans shouted as the visitors’ anthem crackled over the intercom. The visitors– having been warned by the Welsh FA of the prohibitions for using pyrotechnics – subsequently erupted their sliver of Cardiff City Stadium’s Family Stand into a frothing red gas. Welsh fans took their turn to sing, Poland responded dutifully with whistles.
So came a bruising and exquisitely tense affair played out in a cauldron of noise. Neither side were particularly good, both waiting for the other to blink, to betray something. Poland’s chances came early, first Karol Swiderski sliding in but failing by millimetres to make contact with Nicola Zalewski’s cross. Jakub Piotrowski cracked one from deep but it whistled into the Canton Stand.
Wales could rely on the calibre of Brennan Johnson and Harry Wilson, the former’s pace and the latter’s scintillating poise proving a nuisance for Poland’s ageing defence. Moore’s towering presence was the obvious and most compelling target, though the Ipswich striker struggled to hit his.
Wales had the better of a full-blooded first-half in which tempers flared more often than either side was able to create clear-cut chances to score. There is little else to say other than the game blistered, all grime and scrap. Players fell and held various body parts. Both teams and their fans alternated remonstrating with official Daniele Orsato for perceived injustices. Chances arrived frayed on the ends, the challenges not so much last-ditch as perennially dramatic.
In the rarefied spaces: football. Wales believed they’d finally played it well enough in first-half injury time as Moore’s header was whipped on by Ben Davies and crashing into the bottom corner. The Wales bench exploded. The Tottenham Hotspur defender was flagged marginally offside. A turgid stalemate remained.
The second-half brought little change. Orsato began to brandish his card book, both Piotrowski and Jordan James etching in their names early. Moore’s threat grew, so did Lewandowski’s, though the latter could at least force Szczesny into a fingertip save, while the Barcelona star blazed his header over the bar. In lieu of goals, challenges and tackles were celebrated in raptures.
Poland, abandoning caution, found their form and Wales were suddenly on the ropes. How the visitors weren’t clear by the time Dan James arrived in the 70th minute came down to Davies’ interventions and Poland’s growing profligacy.
