Ben Fisher was in Cardiff tonight. His report has landed. Here it is! Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night.
Harry Wilson has a quick chat with S4C. “Another great night … we knew if we stuck to the gameplan we’d get back in the game … from there we dominated the game … League A is the league we want to be in, to play the best teams.”
Brennan Johnson adds: “It shows the togetherness … the gameplan … the style of football … nobody dropped their head … [Craig Bellamy] is a really intense coach … the style of football and philosophy is something all the lads are on board with … I’m loving playing for Wales … we’re all really excited … we’re buzzing.”
Two-goal hero Liam Cullen, the player of the match, speaks to S4C. “It’s a dream come true for me … I was thinking it’s about time I got my first international goal … I got two and an assist … the perfect night for me, really! … we knew we couldn’t control what was going on in the Turkey game … we set to put our stamp on the game and win convincingly … Craig Bellamy and his staff make it so enjoyable.”
Wales win Group B4 and are promoted to League A!
The whistle goes in Nikšić! It’s FULL TIME: Montenegro 3-1 Turkey, and here’s how the group finishes. Wales are promoted! A flying start to the Craig Bellamy era!
Wales P6 W3 D3 L0 F9 A4 Pts 12
Turkey P6 W3 D2 L1 F9 A6 Pts 11
Iceland P6 W2 D1 L3 F10 A13 Pts 7
Montenegro P6 W1 D0 L5 F4 A9 Pts 3
FULL TIME: Wales 4-1 Iceland
The whistle goes in Cardiff, and Wales are minutes, possibly seconds away from finishing top of Group B4 and winning promotion to League A!
90 min +3: Thomas nearly tops it off with an attempted curler into the top-right corner. It’s deflected inches wide. But it doesn’t matter, because …
90 min +2: Penny for the thoughts of Turkey’s Kerem Aktürkoğlu, whose late penalty miss on Saturday looks so costly now.
90 min: There will be three additional minutes.
89 min: A double change for Wales, as Jordan James and Roberts come on for Sheehan and Johnson.
88 min: Thomas is booked for attempting to start up a rough-house rumble with Thórhallsson.
87 min: Wales stroke it about. Iceland just want to hear the final whistle now.
85 min: Nothing comes of the free kick, but nobody in Cardiff cares. Everyone singing all their hymns and arias with great feeling.
83 min: Williams drives hard down the right. Johannesson hauls him back by the neck, and is booked, but never mind that: could he stop over to help out against South Africa this coming Saturday, do you think? They could do with a hand.
81 min: Iceland stick a free kick into the box but they’re not getting through the red wall now. The stadium is a cauldron of noise, with everyone jumping around in the blood-pumping style. Just as well, because as David Bowen reports: “It’s FREEZING here in Cardiff, just in case you are curious.”
GOAL! Wales 4-1 Iceland (Wilson 79)
Iceland have lost the collective noggin, and Wilson takes advantage! Ingason is too busy wrestling with Cullen under a long ball down the middle. It allows Wilson, arriving as they battle on the turf, to tear clear! He opens his body and lashes a shot across Valdimarsson and into the right-hand side of the net. Game over! Group B4 surely over!
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77 min: Meanwhile here’s what looks like the Group B4 clincher: Nikola Krstovic has completed his hat-trick for Montenegro against Turkey! It’s 3-1 in Nikšić too, and unless either Iceland or Turkey make a two-goal comeback, Wales will be promoted to Group A this evening!
75 min: Iceland meanwhile make two changes. Sampsted can’t continue, so Thórhallsson comes on for him, while the freshly booked Thorsteinsson also makes way, for Willumsson. As Thorsteinsson departs, replays show his role in the recent rammy: in comedic fashion, he had both fists full of shirt, one containing Rodon’s, the other Johnson’s. All good knockabout fun.
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73 min: James clanks Sampsted to the floor, then, before the referee can do anything about it, finds himself hooked for Thomas.
71 min: Traustason slides in aggressively on the in-flight Wilson. It’s a poor challenge, with very little attempt made to win the ball. Johnson arrives on the scene to have his say, and briefly considers throwing hands. Thorsteinsson stops him going too far, but all three end up in the book for their varied roles in the brouhaha.
70 min: Gudjohnsen is upended as he meanders down the left. The resulting free kick is looped into the box, but dealt with in the no-fuss fashion by Davies.
69 min: Welsh tails are properly up now. Johnson, full of confidence, swaggers in from the right touchline and makes space for himself on the edge of the box. Too much confidence, though? He attempts to pass a shot into the net through a crowded box, which is pretty ambitious and easily blocked.
67 min: … and now James goes into the book for an over-enthusiastic 50-50 high-kick with Sampsted.
66 min: Fridriksson is booked for arguing the toss over the challenge on Thórdarson, though his energy would be better spent booting his dozy team-mate up the hole. His coach Åge Hareide is also carded for getting involved.
GOAL! Wales 3-1 Iceland (Johnson 65)
Cullen snaffles the ball off a snoozing Thórdarson in midfield, then slips Johnson away down the inside right. Johnson enters the box, draws Valdimarsson, and slots across the keeper and into the bottom left. Cardiff erupts!
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65 min: A first change by Wales. Mark Harris is replaced by Joe Allen. And then …
64 min: Williams drives down the right, shimmies to make a little bit of space ahead of Fridriksson, and absolutely creams a low cross into the mixer. Any deflection and Wales could be doubling their lead, but Valdimarsson shows safe hands to collect.
62 min: Tell you what, though, Iceland are missing Óskarsson. He’d surely have snaffled at least one of the several chances Iceland have carved out this evening.
60 min: … Wales counter at speed through Wilson, who is clear down the left. But he smashes his shot straight at Valdimarsson. Then Iceland counter the counter, and Thorsteinsson slices wide left from 12 yards! There is surely no way this ends 2-1. It’s absurdly open. More, please!
59 min: A long ball down the Iceland right. Gudjohnsen hooks it across from the byline. Thorsteinsson tries to turn it home with a cute Curtis Jones flick, but doesn’t quite catch it and Rodon hoicks clear for a corner. And from that …
58 min: Johannesson is clipped by Sheehan, who is fortunate not to go into the book. Craig Bellamy doesn’t even think it’s a foul, and gets involved in some back-and-forth with the referee. We play on.
56 min: Valdimarsson doesn’t have any work to do at this one, because Cabango concedes a foul for pushing and shoving. But Wales come again, with James crossing from the left. Valdimarsson claims under severe pressure from Johnson. Both teams taking turn to push for the dynamic-changing next goal.
55 min: Williams probes down the right but can’t quite get a shot away. The play’s switched to James on the left. He shoots. Deflected out for a corner that’s taken quickly. From the set piece, Davies heads goalwards from close range. Valdimarsson does well to parry. Another corner coming up!
53 min: Iceland are on the front foot again. They’ll no doubt have discussed the many chances passed up in the first half, and how well they played in the second period in Reykjavik the other month. And at least they don’t have to worry about automatic relegation.
51 min: Ellertsson takes a whack from distance. Ward tips over. Then from the corner, Gudjohnsen misses another decent half-chance from the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, before Thorsteinsson whips wide right from the edge of the box. That wasn’t far off, but Ward had it covered.
50 min: … and one of those options, James, takes out his frustration by attempting to find the top-right corner from the best part of 30 yards. Full marks for ambition.
49 min: Some serious space for Johnson down the right, but he runs slap-bang into the nearest defender. There were options in the middle as well.
47 min: All a bit shapeless at the start of the second period. “Watching the boys of summer 2016 has me feeling a bit nostalgic for past glories,” writes Kári Tulinius. “That said, the second half they played against Wales last time was the best I’ve seen Iceland play in a long time, and gave me faint hope they’ll make it to the next major tournament. It won’t be as special as 2016, but that’s fine, I’ll always have those memories, even if a little voice inside my head says: ‘Don’t look back, you can never look back.’” You won’t want to relive every minute of this, then? It’s there for you, just in case.
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Wales get the second half underway. No changes for Wales, but Stefán Teitur Thórdarson replaces Iceland captain Johann Gudmundsson.
If both matches were to finish now, this is how the Group B4 table would look.
Wales P6 W3 D3 L0 F7 A4 Pts 12
Turkey P6 W3 D2 L1 F9 A5 Pts 11
Iceland P6 W2 D1 L3 F10 A11 Pts 7
Montenegro P6 W1 D0 L5 F3 A9 Pts 3
As things stand, Wales will be promoted to League A tonight! Turkey would go into the pot for the League A/B play-offs, while Iceland face participation in the League B/C play-offs. A long way to go – 45 minutes plus stoppages in both Cardiff and Nikšić, to be sort-of exact – but Wales supporters might as well relax and enjoy looking at this table for the next few minutes at least.
HALF TIME: Wales 2-1 Iceland
… and it’s also HALF TIME: Montenegro 2-1 Turkey. Well, well, well, well, well.
GOAL! Wales 2-1 Iceland (Cullen 45+1)
Wilson snaps into a tackle in midfield, sending Harris driving down the middle. Harris lays off to JAmes on his left. James shoots. Valdimarsson blocks, but the ball springs out to Cullen, who extends a leg to poke past the desperate keeper, and look at Wales now! (Or more to the point, in a couple of minutes, when I can write up the table!)
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45 min: There will be two additional first-half minutes. And in the first …
44 min: James whips in a cross from the left. Valdimarsson claims confidently under pressure from Johnson. Then Wilson dances in from the right and shoots low, but the keeper gathers again. Meanwhile in Montenegro, the hosts have retaken the lead! It’s Nikola Krstovic once more, and hopes of automatic promotion for Wales are once again alive.
42 min: A little space for Johnson just to the right of the Iceland D. He aims for the top right. Valdimarsson palms strongly around the post, and nothing comes of the resulting corner. Both teams doing all they can to score; it’s a game pleasantly free of faff. This has been a really entertaining international break, and one way or another, Wales have contributed as much as anybody.
41 min: … and in Cardiff, Iceland are racking up the missed chances. A cross comes in from the left. Johannesson, at the far post, cushions it down to Gudjohnsen on the penalty spot. He slices wide. He arguably should have a hat-trick.
39 min: Meanwhile back in Montenegro, Kenan Yildiz equalises for Turkey.
37 min: Thorsteinsson picks up the ball to the left of the Welsh goal, tight on the byline. His attempted cross is deflected, and loops over Ward, towards the top-right corner. Cabango is on hand to head clear off the line. Iceland so close again.
36 min: A free kick for Iceland out on the right. Thorsteinsson swings it in. It drops to Gudjohnsen, free, ten yards out and level with the right-hand post. He’s in acres, but rushes his shot and slices it harmlessly wide right. That was a big chance for Iceland to regain the lead.
34 min: Montenegro’s goal was scored just before the half-hour by Nikola Krstovic. It now means automatic promotion is within Wales’ reach! One more goal, and it’s on!
GOAL! Wales 1-1 Iceland (Cullen 32)
Johnson picks up possession on the right-hand corner of the Iceland box. He crosses long. An inswinger. From the left, Cullen steals in ahead of Sampsted and eyebrows a perfect header across the fully-extended Valdimarsson and into the bottom left. That was so simple, but exquisite nonetheless. What a lovely header.
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31 min: Montenegro have taken a shock lead against Turkey. And in even better news for Wales …
29 min: Sampsted is booked for a fairly brazen check on an in-flight James. He has the chutzpah to allow a cheeky who-me? smile spread across his face, but yellow it is.
27 min: Johnson crosses low from the right. There’s a minor kerfuffle but eventually Iceland manage to clear their box. Wales still a bit ponderous at the sharp end. “Sterile stuff in the middle of the park, you say?” asks Simon McMahon. “Fire and ice combining to make lukewarm water. Is Derek Smalls refereeing?”
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25 min: Óskarsson can’t continue. That’s a big blow for Iceland: as well as effectively teeing up tonight’s opener, Óskarsson has scored three goals in four starts in this Nations League. Mikael Egill Ellertsson comes on to fill in.
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24 min: Óskarsson goes down for treatment. While the physio does their thing, both sets of players scuttle to the touchline to receive beneficial tactical instruction. And water.
23 min: Sheehan slips a cute pass down the inside left for James to chase. His pace wins a corner, but the set piece is easily cleared. Wales come back at Iceland, Cullen taking a whack from distance, but the ball pea-rolls its way through to Valdimarsson.
21 min: Wales have settled since the shock of conceding the opening goal. They’re enjoying more possession now, though it’s all fairly sterile stuff in the middle of the park. Not much in Iceland’s final third.
19 min: Now it’s Wales’s turn to take a box-bothering free kick. This one comes in from the right, sent in long by Wilson. Davies makes a nuisance of himself at the far stick to force a corner off Traustason. Sheehan takes but it’s easily cleared by the Iceland defence. Valdimarsson hasn’t had much to do as of yet.
18 min: Replays of the goal show Gudjohnsen’s shot, hit crisply from the left-hand corner of the six-yard box on the turn, squirting through Ward’s legs at the near post. You could blame the keeper, I guess, but you’d need a heart of stone to do so, especially as he was just springing up from making a glorious strong-armed flying stop from the prolific Óskarsson. It was just a great goal.
16 min: As things stand, Iceland will finish in the promotion play-off place, while Wales will be faced with a relegation play-off in the spring. A long way to go yet.
14 min: … and not long after, it’s Johnson’s turn to tear clear down the right channel, forcing a save from Valdimarsson. Then the flag goes up; he was offside as well. This already doesn’t feel like a one-goal game.
12 min: Óskarsson out-powers Cabango down the Iceland inside-right channel, and suddenly he’s clear on goal. Rodon nips back to block his shot and then the flag goes up for offside.
11 min: On the touchline, Craig Bellamy wears a look of great concern. His team haven’t managed to string anything together yet. They’ve been such fast starters recently, as well.
9 min: That goal had been coming. For two minutes. Iceland suddenly turned up the heat, and Ward’s heroics weren’t enough to save the hosts this time. Meanwhile Peter Oh, of 7.46pm fame, can never resist a quip, and returns with another zinger: “Cheers for the Frost-y reception, Scott!”
GOAL! Wales 0-1 Iceland (Gudjohnsen 7)
Ward makes another stunning save, but this time it’s not enough to prevent Iceland scoring. Gudmundsson wedges in from the left flank. Óskarsson heads from close range. Ward sticks up a strong arm to make an outrageous point-blank save, but the rebound falls to Gudjohnsen, level with the left-hand post. Gudjohnsen swivels and slots a low shot under Ward and in.
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6 min: … though the same can’t be said for the resulting corner. We play on.
5 min: Óskarsson holds up a long pass down the middle, then lays off to Johannesson to his right. From the edge of the box, Johannesson sends an absolute pearler towards the top-right corner; Ward is behind it all the way, and tips over spectacularly. All action worthy of the entrance fee.
4 min: The first big set piece of the evening. Gudmundsson sends it into a packed mixer. Wilson hooks it clear with Rodon stooping behind him, preparing to head away in case of fresh-air-swipe.
2 min: The usual high-octane start by Bellamy’s people. Dan James attempts the first Bale-esque burst of energy down the left, but Fridriksson won’t be beaten. No Solvi Ottesen he. Not yet.
Iceland get the ball rolling. “When Bellamy talks about players going back to their clubs does he have his golf-club experiences in mind?” wonders Richard Hirst, because somebody had to say it.
The teams are out! Wales in red, Iceland in second-choice grey. We’ll be off in a minute! “Fiery dragon breath melts ice, so the result of this match is a foregone conclusion,” argues Peter Oh, who clearly spent more time at school on thermodynamics than classic American poetry.
Craig Bellamy speaks to S4C. “The players know the art of defending the box extremely well … we have to keep that tonight … defending deep in the box we are exceptional at … freshness is very important … we’re completely aware of the data … some hit a certain level and it wouldn’t be the wisest decision to play them again today … we always want to do well but I want the players to be healthy … in good positions when they go back to their clubs … I’m looking forward to tonight … a really good game the way the group lies … it will definitely be an exciting game … the danger is everywhere … set plays they’re extremely dangerous … forwards very good … experience everywhere else … a good group of young players … I’m very fond of them … it’s definitely going to be a very difficult game tonight.”
Ten years ago, Gareth Bale scored this goal in a friendly against Iceland …
… which proved to be a dry run for this mirror-image peach, scored one month later in the Copa Del Ray final. For the record, Solvi Ottesen and Marc Bartra were the men left spluttering in Bale’s dust. Valgeir Fridriksson and Alfons Sampsted, occupying the full-back positions for Iceland tonight, will doubtless be thankful Bale is all about the golf these days.
Craig Bellamy makes four changes to his Wales starting XI after the goalless draw in Turkey. Danny Ward, Ben Cabango, Liam Cullen and Dan James are in for Karl Darlow, Connor Roberts, Jordan James and Sorba Thomas.
Iceland make three changes in the wake of their 2-0 win in Montenegro. Victor Pálsson replaces the injured Aron Gunnarsson; Alfons Sampsted replaces the suspended Logi Tómasson; and Isak Bergman Johannesson replaces Stefán Teitur Thórdarson, who drops to the bench.
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The teams
Wales: Ward, Williams, Rodon, Cabango, Davies, Wilson, Sheehan, Johnson, Cullen, D James, Harris.
Subs: Allen, Colwill, Darlow, Dasilva, J James, King, Koumas, Mepham, Norrington-Davies, Roberts, Thomas.
Iceland: Valdimarsson, Fridriksson, Pálsson, Ingason, Sampsted, Johannesson, Traustason, Thorsteinsson, J Gudmundsson, Óskarsson, A Gudjohnsen.
Subs: Ólafsson, Petersson, Sigurgeirsson, Willumsson, Thórhallsson, Willumsson, Thórdarson, S Magnússon, J Magnússon, Baldursson, Ellertsson.
Referee: António Nobre (Portugal)
VAR: Fábio Oliveira Melo (Portugal)
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Preamble
Will this wild and wonderful international break, packed full of exhilarating drama already – Kerem Aktürkoğlu’s missed penalty, Andrew Robertson’s last-gasp winner – deliver one last fingernail-bothering treat? The way Wales have been dishing up the entertainment since Craig Bellamy took over, all signs point firmly to yes. Wales could win automatic promotion to League A tonight. Or they could drop into a relegation play-off. Or they could secure a spot in the promotion play-offs, which could potentially lead to a March showdown with The Joe Jordan Country. Now that would make for some good watching. But let nobody get ahead of themselves: Wales have a job to do tonight in Cardiff, where a draw would be enough to keep promotion hopes alive … but the second-half runaround Iceland gave them in Reykjavik reminds them that nothing is certain. With Turkey simultaneously looking to seal top spot in Montenegro, a riveting couple of hours stretch out ahead. Kick-off in Cardiff is at 7.45pm. It’s on!
Turkey P5 W3 D2 L0 F8 A3 Pts 11
Wales P5 W2 D3 L0 F5 A3 Pts 9
Iceland P5 W2 D1 L2 F9 A9 Pts 7
Montenegro P5 W0 D0 L5 F1 A8 Pts 0
