World Cup qual. - Brave Wales fall in Germany

Eurosport - Thu, 16 Oct 09:41:00 2008

Piotr Trochowski's second-half thunderbolt broke stubborn Wales resistance in Moenchengladbach as Germany laboured to a 1-0 win to move four points clear at the top of World Cup qualifying Group 4.

FOOTBALL 2008 World Cup qual. Germany-Wales Hitzlsperger Trochowski Ballack - 0

John Toshack's team had repelled the home side tirelessly and looked on course for an unlikely point, before the midfielder fired an unstoppable shot past Wayne Hennessey on 72 minutes.

Germany dominated the first half with Michael Ballack and Thomas Hitzlsperger controlling the midfield and white shirts all over the pitch showing neat touches and good movement.

But while Joachim Lowe's men had a virtual monopoly on possession, they failed to create a single clear opening and were reduced to long-range efforts as Wales' disciplined defending left them frustrated.

Miroslav Klose had the first effort of note on 16 minutes, driving a shot into the side netting from just inside the box after good work from Bastian Schweinsteiger on the right.

Wales packed numbers behind the ball, but could have taken an unlikely lead on 28 minutes after Gareth Bale played in Craig Bellamy on the left. The striker shot early across the goalkeeper, but his effort fizzed just wide.

Moments later Schweinsteiger let fly with a fine left-foot shot from 25 yards, but it flew just over the bar with Hennessey flailing.

Hennessey saved Ballack's low drive five minutes before half-time, but it was Wales who entered the break with confidence blooming after an impressively organised showing.

The second half saw the German onslaught intensify, but not before Bellamy had once again threatened to stun the home side with a breakaway goal - the West Ham forward latching onto David Edwards's flick and drawing a sharp save from Rene Adler.

But the majority of the action unfolded at the opposite end, with James Collins inspired at the heart of the Wales defence and Hennessey putting in a impressive performance between the sticks.

Collins denied substitute Patrick Helmes on the hour mark with a brave block at the foot of the post and recovered to foil Ballack as he raced in for the kill.

Hennessey was next to shine, tipping over Schweinsteiger's blistering shot brilliantly on 71 minutes.

The Wales keeper could do nothing to stop Trochowski's ripsnorter, however, which bent wickedly in the top-right corner after the midfielder had cut in from the right flank and pulled the trigger from just outside the box.

Germany finally had the lead they deserved, and with the floodgates broken it appeared they might run away with the match when Ballack hit the post from a free-kick moments later.

But Wales refused to capitulate and with 10 minutes remaining wasted a glorious chance to draw level, when Bellamy raced away down the left and found Chris Gunter with his cut-back.

The 19-year-old couldn't quite cultivate a shooting opportunity, however, and as the attack clumsily faltered, so did Wales' hopes of leaving Germany with a point.

Russia 3-0 Finland

Russia beat Finland 3-0 in the other match in Group 4 after the visitors put the first two goals into their own net.

The Euro 2008 semi-finalists opened the scoring midway through the first half when Petri Pasanen mishit into his own goal.

The Russians, beaten by Germany 2-1 in Dortmund, went two up in the 65th minute when Veli Lampi scored a second own goal when trying to clear the ball off the line.

Russia playmaker Andrei Arshavin added a third two minutes from time with a great solo effort, beating two defenders before rounding the keeper and slotting calmly into an empty net.

Will Tidey / Reuters

Comment 13 - 32 of 32

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  1. why are wales always "brave" when they lose ­ but england
    "useless" when they lose?
    wales­ were not brave. this is a game of football. nobody­ dies.
    it doesnt take bravery to go out and face a­ mediocre german team
    who couldnt beat finland­ recently.
    please,some common sense.
    perhaps­ "plucky" would be more apt.

    From geordieprince1, on Thu 16 Oct 12:02PM

  2. if toshack thinks he can win games by putting 11­ players behind the ball he's joking, wales got what­ they deserved,nothing!!

    From ubermensch, on Thu 16 Oct 11:32AM

  3. what? wales deserve a point?? dude u've seen­ another game. i think teams like wales do not deserve­ to play in the qualifiers in the first place if they­ keep playin the way they do. 11 players in the last­ third for 80 minutes??? do they deserve to be in the­ world cup?? they should follow scotland at least they­ are trying..

    From esamsabbah, on Thu 16 Oct 8:17AM

  4. This report is not a true reflection on the game.­ Germany were poor with key players making numerous­ basic errors. Wales played really well and would have­ deserved an away draw.

    From David, on Thu 16 Oct 7:34AM

  5. And the English wonder why nobody likes them. Do you­ blame people for disliking such an arrogant nation. The­ name Richard Cranium springs readily to mind when­ thinking about Engerland supporters. And this is from a­ Taff whose father was one of you !!

    From TonyP, on Thu 16 Oct 7:32AM

  6. Its a sad sign of the times that most of the comments­ made have been of a racial nature rather than on the­ football aspects. Yes Wales put men behind the ball, no­ they didnt create many chances themselves, but they­ played the type of game best suited to try to gain a­ point in this difficult group. Wales is a small country­ but we still try to keep our complete squad Welsh,­ right down to the manager. They should passion and­ pride and didnt winge about referees or bad tackles or­ off side decisions as seemed to be the case when­ England got dumped out of the European cup. Give credit­ where credit is due. If England had adopted the same­ attitude then as Wales did last night, they might well­ have been playing football in the summer instead of­ lounging on beaches with their wives and girlfriends.­ Lets support all the British teams throughout the­ tournament at least until hopefully more than one of­ them progress to the finals and get drawn together,­ thats the time to get nationalistic. Until then COME ON­ BRITAIN.

    From Steve J, on Thu 16 Oct 7:27AM

  7. oh why do the English have so much to shout about?have­ many of you been to your capitol lately!!!!with your­ narrow mindedness and dim views on people from all over­ the world you bring shame to the U.K.with a long­ history and being the true Brit's we don't need­ over paid glory boys to make us proud!!

    From Jason L, on Thu 16 Oct 7:21AM

  8. To starman_123,
    There shall never be a UK team as long­ as you have a hole in your bum. Even if there were a UK­ team, they would only be picking the English anyway so­ what difference would it make.

    From sappercommando25, on Thu 16 Oct 5:01AM

  9. Hahahahaha, another defeat for the hopeless taffs. At­ least it wasn't at home I suppose in front of­ another 13,000 crowd. That's an absolute disgrace­ and you know it: you might only be a glorified county­ but league two crowds are better than that a lot of the­ time.

    From Bill, on Thu 16 Oct 4:35AM

  10. Ryan Giggs, how soon we forget, the best welsh­ footballers of all time Ian Rush and Mark Hughes (Tosh­ "The Red Dragon" was great in his time too).­ I have have nothing against the Welsh, and the cards­ and resources are stacked up against them and sadly due­ to that fact they will NEVER make it to a Major Cup­ competition. In other major sport (Cricket and­ Football) the Welsh teams play in the English leagues,­ and thus the Welsh should consider representing Welsh­ players in the English team its the only way they can­ get acknowledgment or getting to the World (or­ European) Cup. Having said that, I would say the same­ to Northern Ireland too. Just Imagine a­ "British" team that included the likes of­ Rush, Hughes, Giggs, Jennings, Best, and etc. But that­ is a different topic. The Welsh need to stick to­ playing Rugby.

    From starman_123, on Thu 16 Oct 4:34AM

  11. To alix from Wales,
    I take it you lot don't go to­ school then judging by your grammatical and spelling­ mistakes. I hope you are just an exception to the rule.

    From sappercommando25, on Thu 16 Oct 3:21AM

  12. GO GERMANY!!!GO BALLACK!!!!!

    From mafiaboss, on Thu 16 Oct 2:33AM

  13. Im amazed at the abusive comments towards us Welsh.­ People wonder why we dislike the english so much, well­ know you have your answer. Thease comments are­ unesissary, but hey what would you expect from the­ retards that wrote them. Pathetic brainless morons,­ that havnt got a brain cell between them. Sad little­ men with small d**ks.We are a proud nation and true­ brits, maybe thats their problem.Cymru am byth.

    From Alex, on Thu 16 Oct 1:02AM

  14. It is the age old problem of the Welsh not having the­ same choice of players like the numerically superior­ English have. The biggest irony is that Wales' best­ player of all time, Ryan Giggs never got to represent­ his outfit in a competition as they Welsh have not­ qualified for the World Cup for now 50 years and the­ Euro, well I think that they have never qualified at­ all. It is really sad to see Wales, such a lovely­ country being deprived on all sectors of life. In a way­ judging by what I saw there in my time, they have­ resigned themselves to being the 3rd World State in the­ British Isles. Wales have always had and shall always­ have the short end of the stick also due to the­ geographical location.

    From sappercommando25, on Thu 16 Oct 1:00AM

  15. go go germany

    From maggie, on Thu 16 Oct 12:51AM

  16. Pam mae Saeson mor dwp tybed?

    From KEVIN, on Thu 16 Oct 12:41AM

  17. one way traffic. Wales are @#$%

    From nicholasbnjmn, on Thu 16 Oct 12:38AM

  18. This game was so bored....although I am glad Germany­ won!

    From karipatlan, on Wed 15 Oct 11:22PM

  19. well well well wales,another world cup gone to­ pot,looks like u be watching st.george in 2010,don,t u­ just love it sh1tty taffs,well done baaaaaaaallack

    From michelle, on Wed 15 Oct 11:15PM

  20. the welsh should of won . but thay dint play well­ "did thay"

    From hard-on, on Wed 15 Oct 11:07PM
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