Int Football - Poland edge out Wales

Eurosport - Thu, 12 Feb 10:42:00 2009

Wales fell to a 1-0 defeat against Poland in Portugal in a match that will tell John Toshack little about his side.

FOOTBALL 2006 Craig Bellamy Wales - 0

A brilliant goal from Brazilian-born Roger Guerreiro 10 minutes from time settled the contest but Wales effectively had a reserve team out when they conceded the late goal.

Wales were missing the likes of James Collins, Danny Gabbidon, Simon Davies, Jason Koumas and Robert Earnshaw before kick-off and then took off Craig Bellamy, Joe Ledley, Wayne Hennessey, Ched Evans and Jack Collison at half-time.

With Poland also making four changes at the break, and then two more in the second half, the game's rhythm was completely disrupted after a reasonably lively first half.

In that opening period Wales were actually the better side and were unlucky not to go in at the break in front.

They came desperately close to scoring twice in the space of a minute just after the half-hour when first Ledley saw a fluky shot loop up and hit the underside of the bar before David Edwards's powerful header was cleared off the line from a corner.

Wales were looking particularly lively down the left where Ledley, Bellamy and Gareth Bale were linking up well.

Bellamy had a few decent chances after being put in behind the defence but Michal Zewlakow cleared one, Bellamy half-volleyed another over the bar, and then, with his best chance, the Manchester City player dragged a low shot just wide.

Poland had a few moments in the first half too but nothing that really troubled Hennessey and it was not until the 79th minute that they really forced a Welsh keeper into a quality save, with substitute Boaz Myhill pushing away a stunning 35-yard-drive from Mariusz Lewandowski.

Moments later Poland had the lead thanks to the first moment of genuine quality in the match as Roger produced a stunning lob from the edge of the area with the outside of his boot which caught out Myhill despite the Hull keeper not being too far off his line.

Wales struggled to get anything going in the second half after all their changes but Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey did show some quality after coming on and Lewin Nyatanga missed one great chance when he headed a Bale free-kick wide from close range.

Tosack's side face two big World Cup qualifiers at home to Finland and Germany next month but what this match will have taught him ahead of those clashes is hard to gauge.

Seán Fay / Eurosport

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  1. hey Eric, thats because all the best polish player play­ for Germany....

    From Nico, on Thu 12 Feb 7:22AM
  2. Wales play Poland in a Portugese sports centre with­ only goal being scored by a Brazilian!!!! Go figure

    From RUSSELL, on Wed 11 Feb 9:12PM
  3. Wales were unlucky against a strong Polish team who are­ 28th in the FIFA rankings,we beat Denmark 1-0 AWAY in­ our last game yet we have dropped 5 places in the FIFA ­ rankings! has anybody got a clue how these rankings­ work? Cliff Jones

    From cliffordjjones, on Wed 11 Feb 8:55PM
  4. Hope Wales give us something to cheer about in the next­ competition and i'm English!

    From Marcus, on Wed 11 Feb 8:31PM
  5. dobra dawc głosy

    From Slawek, on Wed 11 Feb 8:24PM
  6. Great game but Poland needs to show better soccer if­ they want to get to World Cup

    From , on Wed 11 Feb 8:03PM
  7. couple of years time and wales will have a real good­ team...lots of very good youngsters comming along

    From kevin w, on Wed 11 Feb 7:59PM
  8. Tracey Parry don't get involved in a man's­ game,stay by the sink,He,He,

    From ARTHUR R, on Wed 11 Feb 7:34PM
  9. I dont think it is the players , think it has more to­ do with the rubbish MANAGER they have. Who extended his­ contract, they must need their head read !!!!!

    From hecate, on Wed 11 Feb 7:15PM
  10. WALES ARE UTTER PANTS come on ENGLAND!!

    From paul y, on Wed 11 Feb 5:08PM
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