Neco Williams is celebrating this evening after Wales ended a 64-year wait to qualify for the World Cup finals with a nervy 1-0 victory over Ukraine in Cardiff on Sunday.
The Liverpool defender played at left-back for Rob Page's side and was more than delighted to see Gareth Bale's 34th-minute free-kick deflected into his own net by Andriy Yarmolenko. But Ukraine were not prepared to go quietly and after having a goal disallowed they were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty when ex-Red Joe Allen appear to take the legs of Yarmolenko in his own box. VAR did not offer the visitors a justified outcome.
Despite unbearable late pressure from Ukraine, a series of blocks from Ben Davies and one particularly brilliant save from Wayne Hennessey ensured that Wales would be playing in Qatar this winter. Williams, who was substituted late on, ran onto the pitch at full time and celebrated wildly with his teammates.
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The result marked a double success this campaign for the 21-year-old, who spent the second half of the season on loan with Fulham, helping the West London side to finish Championship title winners and return to the Premier League.
Sharing his joy after the match, Williams Tweeted a photo of himself drinking a beer with Welsh captain Gareth Bale, saying: "WE ARE GOING TO A WORLD CUP A DREAM COME TRUE. WOW."
Wales will now enter the Qatar World Cup in Group B, where they will face USA, Iran and home nations rivals England. Former Liverpool midfielder Joe Allen, also expressed his happiness after the match. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "It's hard to put into words. We've been dreaming of this for a long time now.
"We've had to ride our luck at time, call on Wayne (Hennessey) and defend for our lives, but let the celebrations begin. I'd love to say we were calm, it was tough, I got booked early on but I think we got it together. We've come a very long way, we want to make sure this carries on. The quality has gone through the roof, and a World Cup will be incredible to see."
