On a night when Wales supporters’ minds were understandably occupied with the goings-on in Croatia, a few more countries came into play. It is in Switzerland on Thursday where Wales will discover whether they host Iceland, Finland or Ukraine in a Euro 2024 qualifying playoff semi-final in March, the winner of that one facing either Poland or Estonia in the final five days later.
In the end, the inexplicable award of a second-half Turkey penalty, was irrelevant given Croatia held on against Armenia to leave Wales wondering what might have been. Somehow the VAR did not intervene. Yusuf Yazici scored from the spot to cancel out Neco Williams’s wonderful early opener on a fractious evening.
At the end of the first half Wales, a goal to the good, walked off the pitch to the sound of communal applause but there was a reason the atmosphere was not exactly electric as they disappeared down the tunnel. A few minutes earlier Croatia had taken the lead against Armenia, rendering even Wales’s best efforts here redundant unless Armenia could force a draw. Aaron Ramsey, the injured Wales captain, was checking his phone throughout the first half.
The last time Rob Page had coaching staff plugged into results elsewhere, feeding him almost minute-by-minute updates, was when Wales squeezed into the last 16 of Euro 2020 on goal difference despite defeat in Rome. Here it was a case of praying for the best in Zagreb, where anything but a Croatia win over Armenia would keep alive Wales’s hopes of qualifying automatically. Before news of Ante Budimir’s goal reached those here, the home crowd were enthused and it felt fitting they launched into Yma o Hyd, “Still Here”, the unofficial Wales anthem.
Page stressed Wales had to be ready to seize second place in the group in the event of a slip-up. The Wales manager called for vigour from kick-off and Wales were rewarded for their blistering start, a vibrant display that was essentially everything their lethargic showing in Yerevan on Saturday was not.
The busy Nathan Broadhead, the Ipswich forward who was promoted to the starting lineup, whipped a curled shot wide inside five minutes and a couple of minutes later the wing-back Williams, a vibrant presence down the left flank, struck. Williams cut inside Ferdi Kadioglu and caressed an unerring right-foot shot into the far corner. Williams’s knee-slide sent him skidding along the turf and on the sidelines Ronan Kavanagh, Wales’s lead sports scientist, embraced Page.
Wales were aggrieved they did not get the chance to extend their first-half lead from 12 yards. Brennan Johnson, recalled to the starting lineup, was twice on the receiving end of clumsy challenges from the Turkey centre-back Samet Akaydin but both were deemed acceptable by the Slovenian referee, Matej Jug. Page placed his hands on his head in disbelief after Akaydin undoubtedly took down Johnson trying to keep chase in the right channel before taking the ball inside the box. Five minutes later the Tottenham forward was bundled over in the box.
Turkey beat Germany in Berlin at the weekend but were off-colour here and their manager, the former Italy striker Vincenzo Montella, responded by introducing Yazici in place of Abdulkadir Omur soon after the half-hour mark. Turkey were also forced into a goalkeeping change with Altay Bayindir, backup to André Onana at Manchester United, replacing the injured Ugurcan Cakir. Kerem Akturkoglu had Turkey’s first meaningful chance on 42 minutes, skewing harmlessly over Danny Ward’s goal after Yazici’s flicked header bounced on the penalty spot.
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Ward repelled an Akaydin header at a corner approaching the hour and there was an inescapable sense that the tide was slowly turning in Turkey’s favour, though an unmarked Ethan Ampadu put a header on target and Johnson saw a shot inadvertently blocked by the substitute David Brooks.
Turkey had certainly succeeded in making life more uncomfortable for the hosts but the award of a penalty, from which they prospered, was extremely generous. Ben Davies merely ushered Kenan Yildiz out of the way as the Turkey substitute attempted to latch on to a cross inside the box, but the referee took a dimmer view.
Yusuf Sari clipped the crossbar with a swerving strike and Johnson saw a strike correctly disallowed for offside but ultimately it was a result 1,200 miles away in Zagreb that had a greater bearing on Wales’s fate. Their quest to reach Germany’s finals continues.
