Smoke bombs and flares in an away end can make for a striking visual, but nothing burns quite like the déjà vu of a near miss. For the Welsh, a second major championship in succession has been lost to the dramatic agonies of a penalty shootout.
Precisely two years since they lost to Poland by such means in a play-off for Euro 2024, they were edged by the Bosnians here in pursuit of the World Cup. A skied effort from Brennan Johnson and a saved one off the boot of Neco Williams proved decisive.
Instead of a date with the Italians at this ground on Tuesday, they will now have to process a truly galling end to their campaign.
The sting for Wales and Craig Bellamy will be considerable, especially as between the 63rd and 85th minutes they led. They had the game in their hands. They were dominant.
What’s more, they led through Dan James, whose miss in that Polish shootout proved decisive. A redemption story was being written.
But then it went wrong, starting with a Bosnian awakening, driven on by an away corner that waved flags and paid no great attention to FIFA directives around pyrotechnics. From pressure came chances and from chances came the sight of Edin Dzeko, 40 years young, rising to nail a free header at the death. Goodness, the fella was briefly part of the same Manchester City squad as Bellamy once upon a time.
Wales were knocked out of contention for the World Cup finals this summer in agonising fashion
Visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina saw out the gritty win after holding their nerve in the shootout
And how he broke his heart and boiled his blood here – a touchline row between the men in extra-time, once Dzeko had been substituted, was merely one example of the bedlam. Indeed, Bellamy had told his players to avoid ‘chaos’ at all costs, but he, more than anyone knows that is easier said than done.
Alas, it was not to be for him, and yet Bellamy deserves credit for how well he has steered this team, even if this campaign ended in disappointment. He built a team greater than the sum of its parts and, more often than not, it has found a way to thrive in the post-Gareth Bale era. It has thrived on power and vibes and pace and solid tactics.
Ahead of the match, Bellamy had been clear on his directive. ‘We’re going all out,’ he had said. ‘We ain’t sitting back.’
As a mission statement it was direct. Uncluttered. But the planning was complicated by key absences – Ben Davies’s broken ankle earlier this year meant Bellamy was down a captain and the more recent loss of Kieffer Moore cost him a solid focal point in attack. Harry Wilson, so effective on the right for Fulham, was rescripted as a false nine.
The upshot was that Wales dominated possession in the first half but their cut-through was limited. Occasionally, Brennan Johnson switched to the central role, as did David Brooks, and none of it offered an answer. Too often, Wales lacked wit in the final third.
A notable exception was Wilson who, in keeping with his work at Fulham this season, was the source of their best moments. The closest of them was a strike that bent around Nikola Vasilj and rebounded off the post, which came only moments after he had appealed unsuccessfully for a penalty against Sead Kolasinac, the former Arsenal centre-back.
The rest was promising, progressive in style and ultimately unproductive – they were going ‘all out’ and they certainly weren’t ‘sitting back’ but kept crashing against the rocks of a physically huge Bosnian defence. They were a white wall in red country.
For Bellamy, the comfort could be drawn from two directions. One was the Welsh control of midfield and the second, on a related theme, was the ineffectiveness of Ermedin Demirovic and 40-year-old Dzeko, an attacking unit whose supply lines were clogged at every turn by Jordan James and Ethan Ampadu.
40-year-old Edin Dzeko was once again the hero as his bulleted header provided the equaliser
Manager Craig Bellamy was once a team-mate of Dzeko’s and will remember his capacity for danger in front of goal
Brennan Johnson skied his penalty (pictured) while team-mate Neco Williams was also stopped
The visitors had been frustrated for spells during the first 90 minutes as the Welsh ran the midfield
Dan James’ opener was a long-range thing of beauty and looked for some time the winner
Some credit goes to Bellamy for the choreography of those movements – as a coach, he is far more than a tub-thumper.
But still he needed more. In the second half, he got it, via the individual magic of James. The goal’s origin tale was fairly ugly, with a Jay Dasilva clearance triggering a back-and-forth of headers in the middle before Benjamin Tahirovic over-cooked a back-pass into James’s path.
The Wales forward took one touch off his forehead and unleashed hell with his right boot from 30 yards. If we to be a little dull about it, we might note that Vasilj slipped as he was stepping across his line, but the finish, executed as James was striding away from goal, was immense.
A quick word on Tahirovic – he was central to a peculiar sabotage row prior to this match, owing to his inactivity at Brondby, who happen to be managed by a Welshman in Steve Cooper. Barbarez floated his conspiracy theory on the subject earlier in the week and no apology has been forthcoming; Tahirovic’s error in the build-up might only harden the feelings.
From that moment, Wales pushed on. James came close to a second after skipping around Tarik Muharemovic and drilling against the bar, before an almighty scare shortly after the hour, when Bosnia had their first real chance. Demirovic, presented a free header, flushed the connection but Karl Darlow responded with an exceptional save. Full stretch, full flight, and a fingertip to keep his nation ahead.
The Leeds keeper repeated the trick, albeit less spectacularly, to block a drive from Kerim Alajbegovic as the tie entered the final 20 minutes. Wales were now feeling the pressure.
Bellamy reacted by swapping Brooks for Oxford’s Mark Harris, pinning some hope on fresh energies, but by now the momentum was hard to retrieve. Demirovic blew another chance and a near miss at the other end did little to ease the pattern.
That much was crystalised in the 86th minute, when Dzeko launching himself high into the air to meet Alajbegovic’s corner to win a free header and frustrate a few hearts. The marking was slack, the finish precise.
Into extra-time and Wales had the first chance. And a good one, too, created from a delightful Harris flick into Wilson’s path. With too much time to process his options, he drilled against the back of a defender. Demirovic followed it with a drive a fraction wide of Darlow’s near post.
No breakthrough and only penalties could solve it. Darlow struck first by saving from Demirovic on the opening kick, but Brennan Johnson’s skied Wales’s third. Neco Williams then had the fourth saved, leaving it to Alajbegovic to settle it – he did.
