{"id":3456,"date":"2022-09-26T15:23:36","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T14:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=3456"},"modified":"2022-09-26T15:31:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T14:31:43","slug":"wales-relegated-from-top-tier-of-uefas-nations-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2022\/09\/26\/wales-relegated-from-top-tier-of-uefas-nations-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Wales Relegated from Top Tier of UEFA\u2019s Nations\u2019 League"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Lewandowski and Bale exchanged penants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (September 25th<\/sup> 2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sublime<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Rob Page saw his Wales team, missing six regular choice players (Joe Allen, Ben Davies, Aaron Ramsey and Harry Wilson through injury and Ethan Ampadu and Chris Mepham through suspension), beaten by a sublime Dennis Bergkampesque assist by Poland\u2019s captain and star player, Robert Lewandowski in trhe 57th<\/sup> minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By his own high standards, Bar\u00e7elona\u2019s recently acquired had a quiet match in front of goal \u2013he had been criticised by some, mainly fans, after the last match against group winners, the Netherlands, who beat Belgium tonight to clinch a ber in the Nation\u2019s League Finals next summer, courtesy of Liverpool\u2019s Virgil van Dijk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decider \u2013 the only goal of the match came through Jakub Kiwior\u2019s pass from the left wing found Lewandowski in the centre with his back to goal. His majestic pass over the Welsh defence took them out of the game, inviting Karol \u015awiderski to provide a finish worthy of Lewandowski\u2019s genius. He did so from the left of the area, shooting across Wayne Hennessey for the only goal of the match, which consigned Wales to the second tier of UEFA\u2019s Nations League after Rob Page\u2019s team finished bottom of their group. The Netherlands will contest the finals next year. Belgium finished second and Poland 3rd<\/sup>. All four teams qualified for the World Cup two months from now \u2013 both Poland and Wales took positives from the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from learning, if they didn\u2019t know already, that Lewandowski doesn\u2019t have to score to contribute, Poland\u2019s coach, Czes\u0142aw Michniewicz, said that Wales\u2019 physical approach would help his team in Qatar against teams like Argentina and M\u00e9xico. Page pointed out that Wales had played well, created more chances and had had a fantastic send off for their first World Cup Finals in 64 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Poland’s coach Michniewicz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Wales produced the better chances in the first half but were unable to convert any of them, but Poland\u2019s best effort was actually a back pass that Wayne Hennessey failed to control, almost resulting in an own goal. He recovered to prevent embarrassment and cleared the danger. Lewandowski had the Poles\u2019 best effort in the first half \u2013 their first significant chance. Piotr Zieli\u0144ski\u2019s freekick from the left was met with a glancing header by Lewandowski, but it posed no real threat to Hennessey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the other end Wales created opportunities too. Daniel James\u2019 effort was saved by the impressive Italy-based Wojciech Szccz\u0119sny with his legs. Despite not being 100% fit, Juventus\u2019 keeper pulled off a commanding performance between the sticks. He also smothered Gareth Bale\u2019s close range effort after Wales\u2019 skipper was found free on the right by a throw by Connor Roberts \u2013 the angle was far too tight for Bale to have any real chance of beating Szcz\u0119sny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bale, struggling in front of goal in the USA, met Jordan James\u2019 cross from the right wing in added time in the second half. His header beat Szcz\u0119sny but not the crossbar \u2013 it was the closest that Wales came to avoiding defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wales’ manager Rob Page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Page admitted that it wasn\u2019t the original plan for Bale to play the whole match, but the possibility of having him on the pitch if a freekick came in added time persuaded him to keep the Welsh talisman on. It almost paid off with Bale\u2019s header, but the signs that it wasn\u2019t to be Wales night were there earlier when Brennan Johnson\u2019s shot hit Daniel James and went harmlessly out for a goalkick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (September 25th 2022) Sublime Rob Page saw his Wales team, missing six regular choice players (Joe Allen, Ben Davies, Aaron [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[236,213,237,75,217,234,233,210,235],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3456"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3460,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3456\/revisions\/3460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}