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European Championship - Play-off Eliminator Group A
WalesWales0PolandPoland0
Poland win 5-4 on penalties

Wales 0-0 Poland aet (4-5 on penalties): Wales miss out on Euro 2024 after penalty shootout defeat

By Dafydd PritchardBBC Sport Wales at Cardiff City Stadium

Last updated on .From the section WalesBBC Russian1863

Poland players celebrate
Poland failed to register a shot on target in 120 minutes against Wales

Wales agonisingly missed out on qualification for Euro 2024 as they suffered a penalty shootout defeat in their play-off final against Poland on a night of crushing disappointment in Cardiff.

In what was a first shootout for Wales' men in a competitive match, Daniel James missed the only spot-kick - saved by Wojciech Szczesny - while Poland converted all five.

It was a desperately painful way for Robert Page and his players to lose, beaten by a Poland side who failed to register a single shot on target during the entire 120 minutes before the shootout.

Robert Lewandowski's side can now look forward to joining France, Netherlands and Austria in Group D at this summer's Euros in Germany.

Crestfallen Wales must watch from afar having failed to qualify for a European Championship for the first time since 2012.

Wales shell-shocked

The stunned expressions on the players' faces and the momentary silence which befell the home crowd spoke volumes.

It will take time to digest the gut-wrenching nature of this defeat, longer before Page, his players and Football Association of Wales bosses can decide what it means for the team's long-term future.

For now, they must endure this pain.

Having become used to qualifying for major tournaments, this was a moment of heartbreak to rank alongside the most devastating near misses which had come to define Welsh football in bygone eras.

This will hurt for some time.

Anxious intensity

In a tentative first half gripped by nerves, Wales captain Ben Davies had a goal disallowed as he headed in from an offside position.

Chances were still a precious commodity after the break, with Kieffer Moore's header forcing Szczesny into a fine save while Poland's fearsome striker Lewandowski was limited to a diving header which he sent over the crossbar.

The tension only increased in extra time as Jakub Piotrowski came within inches of an opener with a fabulous curling long-range shot.

Exhausted in the second half of extra time, Wales had to defend resolutely in the face of heavy Polish pressure.

Wales centre-back Chris Mepham was sent off after receiving a second yellow card in the final minute of extra time, but Page's side held on for penalties.

However, Poland converted all five of their spot-kicks before Leeds United winger James saw his saved by Juventus keeper Szczesny to break Welsh hearts.

Poland goalkeeper watches ball go into net
Ben Davies saw his effort before half-time ruled out for offside

Cardiff City Stadium has become famous for its atmosphere on nights like these for Wales, but rarely has the ground fizzed with such intensity.

Both teams seemed anxious during a tense opening as they tried to gain an early foothold in the game, neither passing with much fluency or able to build coherent attacks.

It was telling that Wales' first chance came from a set-piece - Davies heading over from a Harry Wilson corner - while a Connor Roberts long throw also raised alarm in the Polish penalty area.

This was a typical high-stakes knockout match - all probing and jabbing, little in the way of decisive blows.

Just for a moment, Wales thought they might have found one, again from a set-piece.

Davies nodded in from Moore's header back across goal - but the fact Wales' players all looked to the linesman even before he raised his flag suggested they knew the goal would be disallowed for offside.

Moore offered another reminder of his aerial threat early in the second half when his looping header was superbly clawed away by Szczesny.

Lewandowski, unusually subdued until that point, had his first sight on goal as he headed over from a Piotr Zielinski corner.

The Barcelona striker then fired a low shot wide as the clock ticked towards 90 minutes and the spectre of extra time loomed.

This was the first time Wales' men had been involved in extra time in a competitive match, and it looked like they would be denied a first penalty shootout when Piotrowski's 25-yard effort curled narrowly wide.

In the second half of extra time, Wales retreated deep into their own half and invited constant Polish pressure, but the visitors still struggled to create genuine scoring opportunities.

It did not matter as Poland were faultless in the shootout, before Szczesny made himself the hero by parrying James' effort wide to spark wild celebrations among the travelling fans.

Line-ups

Wales

Formation 3-4-2-1

  • 12Ward
  • 5MephamBooked at 120mins
  • 6Rodon
  • 4Davies
  • 14RobertsSubstituted forBrooksat 84'minutesSubstituted forBroadheadat 112'minutes
  • 17JamesBooked at 55mins
  • 15Ampadu
  • 3N Williams
  • 8Wilson
  • 9JohnsonSubstituted forJamesat 70'minutes
  • 13Moore

Substitutes

  • 1Hennessey
  • 2Fox
  • 7Brooks
  • 10Ramsey
  • 11Matondo
  • 16Savage
  • 18Cullen
  • 19Dasilva
  • 20James
  • 21King
  • 22Sheehan
  • 23Broadhead

Poland

Formation 3-5-2

  • 1Szczesny
  • 5BednarekSubstituted forSalamonat 80'minutes
  • 3Dawidowicz
  • 14Kiwior
  • 19Frankowski
  • 6PiotrowskiBooked at 50minsSubstituted forRomanczukat 105'minutes
  • 8Slisz
  • 10ZielinskiSubstituted forSzymanskiat 101'minutes
  • 21ZalewskiBooked at 72mins
  • 7SwiderskiSubstituted forPiatekat 80'minutes
  • 9Lewandowski

Substitutes

  • 2Walukiewicz
  • 4Puchacz
  • 11Grosicki
  • 12Skorupski
  • 13Romanczuk
  • 15Buksa
  • 16Szymanski
  • 17Salamon
  • 18Bereszynski
  • 20Szymanski
  • 22Bulka
  • 23Piatek
Referee:
Daniele Orsato
Attendance:
31,876

Match Stats

Home TeamWalesAway TeamPoland
Possession
Home42%
Away58%
Shots
Home12
Away11
Shots on Target
Home4
Away0
Corners
Home3
Away6
Fouls
Home18
Away13

Live Text

  1. Post update

    Match ends, Wales 0(4), Poland 0(5).

  2. Penalties over

    Penalty Shootout ends, Wales 0(4), Poland 0(5).

  3. Post update

    Penalty saved. Daniel James (Wales) right footed shot saved in the bottom left corner.

  4. Post update

    Goal! Wales 0(4), Poland 0(5). Krzysztof Piatek (Poland) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.

  5. Post update

    Goal! Wales 0(4), Poland 0(4). Neco Williams (Wales) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom right corner.

  6. Post update

    Goal! Wales 0(3), Poland 0(4). Nicola Zalewski (Poland) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.

  7. Post update

    Goal! Wales 0(3), Poland 0(3). Harry Wilson (Wales) converts the penalty with a left footed shot to the centre of the goal.

  8. Post update

    Goal! Wales 0(2), Poland 0(3). Przemyslaw Frankowski (Poland) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the top left corner.

  9. Post update

    Goal! Wales 0(2), Poland 0(2). Kieffer Moore (Wales) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.

  10. Post update

    Goal! Wales 0(1), Poland 0(2). Sebastian Szymanski (Poland) converts the penalty with a left footed shot to the centre of the goal.

  11. Post update

    Goal! Wales 0(1), Poland 0(1). Ben Davies (Wales) converts the penalty with a left footed shot to the centre of the goal.

  12. Post update

    Goal! Wales 0, Poland 0(1). Robert Lewandowski (Poland) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.

  13. Penalties in progress

    Penalty Shootout begins Wales 0, Poland 0.

  14. Post update

    Second Half Extra Time ends, Wales 0, Poland 0.

  15. Dismissal

    Second yellow card to Chris Mepham (Wales) for a bad foul.

  16. Post update

    Taras Romanczuk (Poland) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

  17. Post update

    Foul by Chris Mepham (Wales).

  18. Post update

    Hand ball by Daniel James (Wales).

  19. Post update

    Pawel Dawidowicz (Poland) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  20. Post update

    Foul by Kieffer Moore (Wales).

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Comments

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1863 comments

  • Comment posted by Elusive, at 23:37 25 Mar

    Good luck Wales, hope you qualify - I'm one of the unusual ones that love seeing all the home nations succeed!

    • Reply posted by Agree percentage, at 00:36 26 Mar

      Agree percentage replied:
      🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧
      Sorry, my phone doesn't have the new England flag colours.

  • Comment posted by Reggie , at 22:47 26 Mar

    Remember Ramsey and the boys celebrating Iceland beating England? Excuse me while I have no sympathy. Thank you Poland.

  • Comment posted by mark, at 22:34 26 Mar

    I celebrated this result like the Welsh team celebrated Iceland beating England.

    • Reply posted by Wayne, at 22:44 26 Mar

      Wayne replied:
      Are Poland better than iceland?
      Do wales give it the big one everytime

  • Comment posted by Dougie, at 02:47 26 Mar

    Would love the Welsh to get to the Euros as a Scot a think aside from when any of the home nations play each other we should be encouraging each other to reach these tournaments 🤘

    • Reply posted by Thumbs up from Garnacho, at 08:04 26 Mar

      Thumbs up from Garnacho replied:
      You'd encourage England to reach these tournaments?

      I think a team that has qualified for all but 1 tournament this millennium probably should have a higher bar for success to be honest with you.

  • Comment posted by The Major, at 22:40 26 Mar

    Hilarious comment from a former wales women’s team manager that they were surprised Dan James took a pen when he’s young and less experienced. He’s 26 with 50 caps 🙈

    • Reply posted by Thumbs up from Garnacho, at 22:56 26 Mar

      Thumbs up from Garnacho replied:
      But he is only on £2.6 million a year for kicking a ball, you can't expect him to know how to take a penalty

  • Comment posted by gg, at 00:17 26 Mar

    Come on Wales, if that national anthem doesn’t make you run through brick walls for you country nothing will. From an NI supporter 💪

    • Reply posted by Aurelia Cholmondeley, at 06:34 26 Mar

      Aurelia Cholmondeley replied:
      May the best team win.

  • Comment posted by D1712438196133, at 22:46 26 Mar

    Rob Page says this team is going somewhere

    Well it won't be Germany

    • Reply posted by Max, at 23:01 26 Mar

      Max replied:
      Yes they will remain in Wales watching it on Tv

  • Comment posted by korvintage64, at 22:41 26 Mar

    Fantastic for Poland from an England supporter. I celebrated as much at the final penalty just like the Welsh did when England lost to Iceland & Italy…… 😂🤣😂🤣

  • Comment posted by gary, at 22:36 26 Mar

    Great coverage on s4c. Didn’t understand a word of it but better than anything sky/tnt etc etc churn out

    • Reply posted by No Importance to Politicians, at 22:41 26 Mar

      No Importance to Politicians replied:
      It's only English with all the vowels replaced with y's.

  • Comment posted by honest ET, at 07:34 26 Mar

    Come on Wales, come on England and come on Scotland. From a human being

    • Reply posted by Wolston, at 12:24 26 Mar

      Wolston replied:
      So what you got against Ukraine, Poland and the others ?

  • Comment posted by okokok, at 08:02 26 Mar

    I'm an England supporter but would love it if Wales win and join us & Scotland in Germany. Yes, when we play each other we get the rivalry but when we play each other it creates an atmosphere that you don't get when we play a team like say Austria. So all the best until we play each other.

    • Reply posted by Draxx, at 09:06 26 Mar

      Draxx replied:
      They are going into a group with Austria (and France and the Netherlands). Poland v Austria is probably more atmospheric than Austria v Wales, especially as both are neighbours of Germany and would have many fans there.

  • Comment posted by Agree percentage, at 23:54 25 Mar

    Come on Wales!

    From a Wales fan.

    • Reply posted by Mannie Power, at 00:57 26 Mar

      Mannie Power replied:
      Come on Poland!

      From an English fan.

  • Comment posted by gwdychan, at 23:35 25 Mar

    Cymru am Byth!!

  • Comment posted by scott, at 07:11 26 Mar

    Good luck Wales from the Tartan Army.

    • Reply posted by saddletramp , at 07:32 26 Mar

      saddletramp replied:
      So you speak for a whole nation do yo u?

  • Comment posted by TheSecretPundit, at 22:40 26 Mar

    I'm sorry but as soon as I saw Dan James walk up, I just knew.

    • Reply posted by jenks84, at 22:42 26 Mar

      jenks84 replied:
      100% agree

  • Comment posted by Harsh but fair, at 23:03 26 Mar

    Enjoy your summer Wales. You love it when England lose. At the playoff final against Cardiff against QPR in Cardiff kids were throwing open balloons filled with urine at me and my wife. Cracking up a cold one and cracking up because your gutted

    • Reply posted by Jon, at 23:05 26 Mar

      Jon replied:
      You still stink of urine I'm sure

  • Comment posted by lander, at 22:42 26 Mar

    Maybe the BBC will stop their Welsh 'love in' now...🤔

    • Reply posted by Thumbs up from Garnacho, at 22:51 26 Mar

      Thumbs up from Garnacho replied:
      But they were "flawless" and "brave", seriously why are their expectations so low. Albania & Georgia have qualified, 2 countries with less than 3 million inhabitants. Iceland and Luxembourg even got close.

  • Comment posted by ref, at 05:48 26 Mar

    Football over here always brings the un-united kingdom love out

  • Comment posted by xmen, at 00:25 26 Mar

    Come on Poland!!! 🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱

  • Comment posted by Sanj, at 22:56 26 Mar

    Thank you to all the Welsh team for keeping Robbie Savage quiet this summer! 🤣

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