This was a deeply unedifying evening for Wales, a frankly embarrassing evisceration that could quite feasibly have lasting ramifications. A shock defeat by Armenia, a country sandwiched between Kyrgyzstan and Belarus in the Fifa rankings, 71 places below them, represents a significant setback to Wales’s hopes of reaching Euro 2024.
It was a dire performance and an ignominious result, the kind that had shades of those sore losses to Moldova, North Macedonia and Cyprus that supporters thought were consigned to yesteryear. Just as in Nicosia in October 2007, this was a desperate Group D Euro 2024 qualifying defeat and it remains to be seen quite how damaging it will be on their chances of reaching a third successive major tournament.
As the stadium announcer offered some travel advice over the speakers a few minutes after the final whistle, most Wales supporters had long headed for the exits. It all started so promisingly, Daniel James converting Brennan Johnson’s cross inside 10 minutes, but once Armenia found their stride they exposed gaping holes in Rob Page’s side.
Grant-Leon Ranos, a teenager on the books of Bayern Munich, registered a fine double and rattled a post before Harry Wilson pulled a goal back to give Wales hope of rescuing a point. Lucas Zelarayan started and finished the scoring for the visitors, his first a sumptuous volley, the second equally well-taken but oh-so easy. By the end there was an argument Wales got off lightly, even if Kieffer Moore’s red card on 78 minutes for a petulant kick at Armenia goalkeeper Ognjen Cancarevic was, as Page bemoaned, painfully soft.
There was utter disbelief as Zelarayan added the fourth, this stadium, so often a cacophony of noise, silenced but for around 200 Armenia supporters who rejoiced at their first win in 10 matches.
Aaron Ramsey, the Wales captain who was withdrawn a minute after Armenia surged into a 3-1 lead, called the display naive and Page suggested Wales were guilty of complacency. “Everything happens for a reason, perhaps it’s the slap we need, a little bit of a reality check,” the Wales manager said. “Everybody was starry-eyed and getting carried away … yes, we had a great start in March but there are no bad teams now anymore. Look at what Turkey had to do in the 96th minute against Latvia, teams are going toe to toe. We fell well short of our standards.”
Wales, who fly to Samsun on Saturday in preparation for their game against Turkey on Monday, will have to swallow a first European Championship qualifying home defeat since losing to Bulgaria in 2010. In recent years Wales have been able to count the lows on one hand but this was a damning night that will linger for a while yet. David Brooks’s first appearance in a Wales shirt for two years, after returning from stage two Hodgkin lymphoma, was the only positive.
The last time Oleksandr Petrakov took charge of a game here, as Ukraine manager 12 months ago, he had to stomach a raw World Cup playoff final defeat, but only after, while holding back the tears, he gave an impassioned diatribe against “Russian barbarians” and their invasion of Ukraine. It was as moving as press conferences get but this time the mood in the away dressing room was different altogether, the players singing long after full-time.
“We are top of the league,” sang the Wales support after James struck. But things unravelled from there. Eduard Spertsyan sent a diving header wide from Artak Dashyan’s devilish cross.
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The lively Nair Tiknizyan supplied Armenia’s equaliser, with Zelarayan meeting his cut-back to arrow a volley into the top corner. Petrakov clenched his fist and high-fived a couple of his substitutes but the outlook was about to get even better. Joe Rodon ran into Ugochukwu Iwu when carrying the ball upfield and Armenia sliced Wales open. Spertsyan whipped in a cross from the right and Ranos feasted on the generous space between Connor Roberts and Chris Mepham to head in.
Suddenly an anxiety had seeped into Wales’s play. Even the simple was laboured, the crowd narky. Johnson had a shot repelled by Cancarevic and then Moore sent a tame shot at the Armenia goalkeeper from just inside the box after Wilson eluded the offside trap. Rodon, who wilted before being replaced, glanced a header wide after meeting a Wilson cross.
The grimace on Mepham’s face as he conceded a 64th-minute corner, with Wales flailing, said it all. So did the groans as Ramsey surrendered possession 22 seconds into the second half. Even at that point this match had all the hallmarks of one of those excruciating evenings. “I didn’t see that coming,” Page said. “It has really shocked me.”
