THE WINCE OF WALES

De Bruyne's penalty double leaves Bellamy's boys on the ropes

- BY TOM COLEMAN

THE dream is still very much alive - but there's a sickening feeling this was an opportunity missed for Wales.

The main caveat being, of course, that victory against a Belgium side that hadn't lost a qualifying game for over 10 years was always going to be a big ask.

The Red Devils' last qualifying defeat was in fact at this Cardiff City Stadium, where Gareth Bale's early first-half strike proved enough to seal a pivotal win for Wales on their road to Euro 2016.

The Dragons don't have that messianic figure to lean on nowadays, but failure to qualify for next summer's World Cup would clearly be considered a failure given the shift in expectations.

When Joe Rodon headed home to put Wales in front after eight minutes, the road to next summer’ finals looked pleasingly straightforward.

But Belgium were always likely to try and blur the picture and ruthlessly hit back with two Kevin De Bruyne penalties and a goal from Thomas Meunier.

Winger Nathan Broadhead came off the bench to net late on, but Leandro Trossard made sure of the win nearly straight after the restart, and dented the hosts' hopes of qualifying automatically from Group J.