Dragons can make life hot for Poles in Cardiff cauldron

The long, convoluted and confusing route to Euro 2024 comes to a head tonight, with three play-off places to be settled and Wales hoping they can claim one of them, facing Poland at Cardiff City Stadium and riding high on the confidence generated by their 4-1 thrashing of Finland last week in the semis.

- KARL MATCHETT

A similar type of showing this time around can seal a third European Championship appearance in a row and a fourth tournament in eight years for the Dragons.

Yet, it must be acknowledged that the task remains large; even a near-perfect performance might yield two chances falling Poland’s way. If they happen to be at the boots of Robert Lewandowski, even with his powers on the wane he can ensure the rest of the match is rendered irrelevant.

But for all that they must beware the Barcelona forward and his teammates, Wales will have confidence in their own game, their own approach to chasing victory – and there are two particularly good reasons for doing so.

The first big and obvious advantage that Wales have is that they are on home soil. This goes beyond merely being in comfortable surroundings – that would be a bonus for almost any nation. For Wales, it has been more. The partisan home crowd are capable of magnificence, of levelling the field at times against those who are nominally a better team – at least for periods of matches and certainly from the start. Home comforts alone cannot earn a win but they can certainly help the hosts settle in. A strong start can be crucial.

Since November 2022, Wales have lost just once at home – the surprise defeat to Armenia in qualifying – and even in that match, Wales took the lead. In the full two years since Tomas Soucek scored on the half-hour mark to give the Czech Republic a lead, Armenia were the only nation to breach the Dragons’ rearguard before the half-time whistle went... until Teemu Pukki did so on Thursday.

Even that was when Wales were two up, and in stoppage time.