World Cup qual. - Wales hopes hit by defeat

Louise (Admin) · World Cup qual. - Wales hopes hit by defeat

Wales' hopes of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup were dealt a major blow after a damaging 2-0 defeat by Finland in Group 4 at the Millennium Stadium

Hibernian forward Jonatan Johansson swooped just before the half-time break to put Finland ahead before substitute Shefki Kuqi sealed the win with a second in injury time.

The goals gave the visitors their first win outside Finland for two years while Wales now have a mountain to climb if they are to reach the tournament in South Africa.

Pre-match, Wales coach John Toshack had warned his players that defeat would effectively end their qualification campaign, an assessment that looked even more accurate when Russia opened up a three-point lead over Wales with a comfortable 2-0 win over Azerbaijan earlier in the day.

Only time will tell whether Toshack is proved correct, but the result at a disappointingly half-full Millennium Stadium saw his young side leapfrogged into third place by Finland, with leaders Germany hammering Liechtenstein 4-0 before visiting Cardiff on Wednesday.

Toshack's belief in youth is admirable - he sent out a side with an average age of 24, compared to Finland's 30 - but experience, or lack of it, proved the difference as veteran Finnish forward Jari Litmanen put in a classic performance to down the Welsh.

The hosts started slowly during the opening exchanges but soon settled into the flow of the game, with Gareth Bale in particular enjoying his licence to get forward down the left flank.

Time and again the Tottenham wing-back found himself in an advanced position, but rarely were the hosts able to make anything of his forays forward.

Craig Bellamy too was clearly in the mood, the Welsh skipper his usual effervescent self as he returned from a knee injury.

But despite all the Manchester City striker's hustle and bustle an end product was lacking, with Jussi Jaaskelainen in the Finnish goal remaining relatively untroubled throughout the first half. Only a diving James Collins header on 23 minutes forced a save out of the Bolton keeper, and even then the flag had already gone up for offside.

And Wales were made to pay for their lack of incision when Johansson struck just before the break to give the visitors the lead.

The former Charlton man benefitted from a lovely through pass from Litmanen - not his first of the day, nor his last - reaching the ball just before the onrushing Wayne Hennessey and poking it goalwards. The ball trickled agonisingly over the line moments before the desperately backtracking Chris Gunter could get there.

The goal was a real hammer blow for Wales, who could count themselves lucky not to have gone further behind before the half-time whistle when just moments after the goal went in, Mikael Forssell squandered a great chance.

Again Litmanen was the architect, 38-year-old playing spreading the ball out to the excellent Aleksei Eremenko who delivered a super cross to Forssell.

But the former Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Birmingham striker opted to take a touch, allowing Bale time to get back and make a crucial challenge which referee Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez deemed legal.

The stirring ending to the first half not only served to give boost Finland's hopes of getting something from the game, but it noticeably stripped the young Welsh side of some of their confidence.

And the opening 10 minutes of the second half brought three further chances for Finland to hammer home their advantage, the evergreen Litmanen again heavily involved.

Forssell was again the beneficiary of the veteran's vision on 51 minutes, only to snatch a shot wide of the mark, before Litmanen started a move which ended with Forssell bringing a decent save out of Hennessey three minutes later.

Hennessey, however, was nowhere to be seen when defender Hannu Tihinen looped a header from a corner over the Welsh keeper's head moments later; but fortunately for Wales, Joe Ledley was well positioned on the line to head clear.

In fairness, Wales had created a chance of their own soon after the restart, Jason Koumas running onto Bellamy's through pass before being denied by a smart block by Jaaskelainen.

But it proved to be their only real chance of the second period, and as the half wore on the hosts looked less and less likely to find an equaliser.

Indeed, Finland spent much of the remainder of the game camped in Wales' half, although they took their time to put the game to bed despite creating several further chances to do so.

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