Wales players react after being defeated 3-0 in the Qatar World Cup Group B match against England at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al-Rayyan on Nov. 29.ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images
“Don’t take me home,” the Welsh soccer fans sing. But on Tuesday, England rang the leaving bell, defeating its neighbours 3-0 and knocking Wales out of its first World Cup in 64 years.
For Wales supporters in Qatar and at home, this was always the fixture they were dreading, the one they assumed they’d lose, just hopefully not too badly.
If qualification was to come, it would be through victories over the United States and Iran in their first two games. But Wales drew against the Americans and fell to two late goals against Iran, and so headed into Tuesday’s match with not only pride on the line, but sheer survival.
Chances were slim: Wales needed not only victory, but for the United States and Iran – playing at the same time – to draw their game. Neither was to be, with Christian Pulisic putting the Americans ahead in the first half of their game, and two goals from England at the start of the second of theirs all but ending Welsh hopes.
When Marcus Rashford scored a third for England, and his second of the match, in the 68th minute, it was clear the game was becoming something of a rout.
Tuesday’s results mean both the United States and England qualify from Group B. The latter, despite lacklustre performances in these early games, will still be seen as potential contenders to win the entire tournament. That will be doubly so if they can harness the killer instinct shown in the second half of Tuesday’s game.
“England can put that USA result to bed now,” former midfielder Jermaine Jenas said on the BBC. “There can’t be any boos tonight from England fans. They’ll be going to bed very happy after this game.”
Like Canada, Wales’s decades-long wait between World Cups meant that for many fans, just being in Qatar was a victory.
But whereas Canada looked to be at the start of something, demonstrating a level of skill and talent that belied their losing scorelines, Wales was approaching the end of an era that began with Euro 2016, when it reached the semi-finals, its best-ever finish.
Many of the players in that squad were also in Qatar, but looking past their best, in particular Wales captain and talisman Gareth Bale, who was substituted at halftime, before England scored to seal Wales’s fate. Another member of the “golden generation,” Joe Allen, followed him off in the 81st minute.
“It’s been a desperately disappointing World Cup for Wales,” said Rob Smyth, sportswriter for the Guardian. “But we shouldn’t forget that this is part of a much bigger story, one that involves Euro 2016, Euro 2020 and, of course, Gary Speed.”
Speed, the former Wales manager many see as responsible for cultivating the talent that led to the Euros success, was found dead in his home 11 years ago this month.
While this “was a tournament too far for Bale and Ramsey,” Smyth wrote Tuesday, “they have been responsible for some of the most euphoric moments in Welsh football history. A crap fortnight in Qatar doesn’t change that.”
The hope, as Wales leaves this World Cup, will be that the wait will not be nearly as long before the next one. They take with them about US$10-million to pump into a domestic football program that has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, and the knowledge that this campaign has inspired young people across a country where the national football team was once a joke.
“We’ve got such a good infrastructure in Wales,” fan Nick Davis told The Globe ahead of Wales’s match against the United States. “So we’re not going to hit the really rough periods like we did in the past.”