World Cup column: Wales’s World Cup dreams run into some unfortunate realities
This was not the World Cup return that Wales wanted, it was not the one that they deserved. 64 years filled mostly with pain, disenchantment and downright apathy was reason enough for a small nation oft in the shadow of neighbours to enjoy a summer on the global stage. But this glorious period of Welsh football, previously unforeseen and unthinkable, was owed a crowning moment in front of the eyes of the world.
Reaching the knockout stage at the last European Championship was commendable, going all the way to the semi-finals four years previous was ludicrous. Getting to this World Cup and confirming an appearance record of three from the last four major tournaments was a sign that this could be an era of sustained success rather than a brief escape from the doldrums.
From the moment qualification was secured following a tense, emotionally charged play-off against Ukraine, the thought that reaching this World Cup was not quite the same as getting to any other was always there. Although looming in the background, an uninvited and unfamiliar guest at the party of a lifetime, there was enough euphoria surrounding the entire nation for it to be ignored.
The reality of a World Cup in Qatar should have been identifiable from as far back as June’s play-off and from as far away as Cardiff, yet seasoned tournament regulars have been equally guilty of thinking all would be well by the time the football itself started.
Qatar, with its hypermodern shopping malls and super-sleek hotels and restaurants, would be an ideal place to do your Christmas shopping in the year 2050, but it lacks the sharp edges and inconsequential fallibilities that make international football tournaments seem real. This World Cup will end soon enough and there will be next to no evidence that Wales fans were ever there, possibly none that a World Cup ever took place at all.
These are superficial complaints though, there are of course very real and terrifying reasons why this tournament should not be taking place in Qatar. Welsh fans were made all too aware of these in the moments before their opening game against the USA. Bucket hats and flags adorned with rainbow colours were confiscated upon entry to the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium on an evening in which football at the highest level effectively decided to forget about LGBTQ+ people entirely.
The team itself, guilty of abandoning the LGBTQ+ community after deciding not to wear the ‘OneLove’ armband along with six other nations, never looked to have a semblance of the cohesion of the one that reached the European Championship semi-finals in 2016. An increase in star power among the squad seemingly giving manager Rob Page to many choices to make, dissolving the certainty that has made Wales so easy to identify with.
Gareth Bale had his moment to remember with the late equaliser against the States, but he has been thoroughly ineffective across the two matches he has played in. The fact Aaron Ramsey has fulfilled the entire 90 minutes in both despite having even less of an impact points to a willingness within Page to treat this tournament as a tribute to his fading stars as much as an opportunity to compete against the world’s finest teams.
Joe Allen, a 5ft 7 midfield giant just as worthy of praise in any recent Welsh success as either Bale or Ramsey, has played just 25 minutes at this tournament so far due to injury and with every minute that went by in the lead up to his second-half introduction against Iran, the obviousness of his importance to the team only grew.
Wayne Hennessey, weighed down by his 108 caps in a doomed race for the loose ball with Mehdi Taremi, deserves better than to be cast of the villain of the Iran defeat. Wales should already have been behind by the time he was sent off, and the goalkeeper looked well positioned to be the hero of the piece had he and his team survived with a point following a series of increasingly impressive saves.
Even the nature of Wales’s opponents at this World Cup lacked genuine wonder and intrigue. England have already been encountered on this recent journey, back in Lens in 2016. The USA and Iran are less familiar but neither have the intrigue or excitement attached to them that Brazil or Argentina do. Falling to a giant of the international game, a previous winner of the competition, is beguiling in itself.
But they are not going home just yet. Dafydd Iwan’s 1983 folk song ‘Yma o Hyd’, a celebration of the Welsh language and the culture surrounding it surviving despite all else, became a terrace favourite over the qualification campaign for this tournament.
Despite everything and everyone, Wales are still here. Stranger things have happened at World Cups than Wales overcoming their centuries-long adversaries and securing qualification. Even if they do achieve the unthinkable, it will still be difficult to absorb this tournament experience within the wider narrative of recent success.
