DBasia.news – Gareth Bale scored one goal to save the Welsh national team from defeat against Croatia and held a 1-1 draw in the Group E qualifying match at the 2020 European Cup at the Cardiff City Stadium on Sunday.
Croatia opened the scoring just nine minutes after the start when Nikola Vlasic took advantage of the host’s backline to score.
Four minutes later, Croatia almost doubled their lead after Ivan Perisic escaped the offside trap to gore Bruno Petkovic’s cross, but goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey made a brilliant save.
Wales slowly began trying to compensate for the visitors’ game until in the third minute injury time Bale chased a breakthrough pass from Ben Davies, passing Dejan Lovren before breaking into the Croatian goal to equalize 1-1.
In the 55th minute, Wales almost turned to take the lead after Davies stole the ball that failed to be swept perfectly by Luka Modric before sending it to Daniel James who pushed into the penalty box. Unfortunately, James’ shot was stopped by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
Unfortunately, it was the only meaningful opportunity the two teams had until the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
The result left Wales fourth in the collection with eight points, while Croatia (14) still leads at the top of Group E.
These conditions make at least four teams still have the opportunity to qualify for the finals in a series of matches that will take place in mid-November.
Line-up:
Wales (4-1-4-1): Wayne Hennessey; Connor Roberts, Tom Lockyer, Joe Rodon, Ben Davies; Ethan Ampadu (Joseff Morrell); Gareth Bale, Joe Allen, Jonathan Williams (Harry Wilson), Daniel James; Kieffer Moore (Tyler Roberts)
Coach: Ryan Giggs
Croatia (4-2-3-1): Dominik Livakovic; Tin Jedvaj, Dejan Lovren, Domagoj Vida, Borna Barisic; Luka Modric (Milan Badelj), Mateo Kovacic (Ivan Rakitic); Ivan Perisic, Nikola Vlasic, Josip Brekalo; Bruno Petkovic (Ante Rebic)
Coach: Zlatko Dalic