Day Out

An amazing rollercoaster

Gareth Davies reflects on the epic 2-1 victory

Thankfully, I had shown more faith than the rest of the Welsh footballing public and had bought my ticket for the game before the excellent 2-0 win in Finland. The fact that the remaining 45,000 tickets sold out in two days after that win showed that I had made the right choice. A nervous wait for the tickets to arrive at my house followed, though once they had arrived I could just look forward to the game. 

The build-up in South Wales was intense. Newspapers that were normally full of rugby now had Welsh football on the back pages. Anywhere you went there was news of this game. Were we becoming too confident? After all, the mighty Azzuri were coming to Cardiff, and only a year ago we had struggled to a 0-0 draw at the Millennium Stadium against the footballing greats of Armenia. Granted, since then we had beaten Belarus, Finland and Germany, and achieved a creditable draw against Argentina. But Wales beat the Italians?

As the day of the game arrived, I was becoming more confident that Wales would register a good result. We had not played as well as we could against Finland, but we still managed a 2-0 win, something England and Germany had failed to do in their World Cup qualifying group. A team with the attacking potential of Giggs, Bellamy and Davies would cause any team trouble. How would our troublesome defence cope though? We were cheered with news that Vieri, Totti and Inzaghi would be out, but we still had to worry about Montella and Del Piero.

I arrived in Cardiff to meet some friends well before kick-off. Cardiff was already teeming with people wearing red. Everyone was talking about how Wales were going to pull off a shock result. No-one thought that Wales were going to lose. There were still many empty seats as the Manic Street Preachers whipped the crowd up as the players warmed up. Then came the most amazing version of Men of Harlech. 72,000 people singing and clapping in unison. It just seemed to focus the crowd on the task ahead. 

Simon Davies celebrates after scoring

The teams both emerged to a rapturous reception, 'WALES WALES' echoed round the stadium. Some fans spoilt things by booing the Italian anthem, and the Welsh anthem was the best I have heard at a football match. The noise reached a crescendo as the teams lined up. Wales started well, getting stuck into the Italians. No-one typified this more than Savage who was putting himself about. The Italians were ruffled, and it was no surprise when Wales took the lead on 12 minutes. A lovely exchange on the right- hand side between Delaney, Bellamy and Davies ended up in the latter being played into the area. From a tight angle he shot. The whole crowd drew its collective breath for a second as they waited to see where the ball would end up. As the ball hit the back of the net 70,000 Welsh fans went wild. People hugging people who they had never seen before in their lives. If the noise was loud before, it was now defeaning. 'Are you watching Ingerlund?' asked the Cardiff crowd. I have seen far too many Wales matches to be confident, and something inside me urged caution! How many times in the last qualifying group had Wales surrendered the lead?! Too many!

Instead of sitting on their lead like the Wales of old, the Dragons continued to take the game to Italy. Giggs had been double marked by the Italians, so Wales cleverly concentrated the bulk of their attacks done the right through Bellamy and Davies. Italy were coming more into the game. Savage received a booking, and Del Piero was seeing more of the ball. The referee was earning the wrath of the crowd by continually penalising Hartson, when he was quite clearly being manhandled by the Italian defence. He then gave a free-kick against Meville on the edge of the area when he had hardly touched Montella. To make matters worse, Del Piero's attempt from the kick took a wicked deflection past Jones. Boos echoed around the ground as the crowd showed their disapproval of the ref.

For a while it looked ominous. Wales were losing the momentum they had created. Italy, and Del Piero in particular were looking a lot sharper. Suddenly it was Wales who looked ruffled. Their crisp, incisive passing had disappeared, and Italy looked as though they would get another before half-time. We were all gutted, we all knew that Italy would win; after all this was Wales. We had started brightly and taken the lead, which would make it all the more infuriating when we lost 2-1. Confirmation of this soon arrived as a lovely 25-yard free-kick from Giggs rebounded off the crossbar.

Bellamy lifts the roof with the winner

Half-time came and went. I was shattered. The first 45 minutes had been an emotional rollercoaster, and the second was to be no different. Italy carried on in the same vein after the break. Wales, though, still looked threatening down the right- hand side. The referee continued to frustrate the home fans and players with his decisions. Another controversial free-kick was given to the Azzuri. Again it took a deflection. The next couple of seconds were in slow motion as the ball looped toward the goal with Jones completely wrong-footed. Surely we couldn't concede a second deflected goal? Somehow Jones managed to re-adjust himself and tip the ball onto the bar. Wales took some heart from the save, and set about Italy with a renewed vigour. Davies and Bellamy were suddenly getting a lot of space to exploit. Soon, the roof was nearly taken off the stadium. Gabbidon, who gave another assured display at the back, passed to Hartson who turned his man. He then in turn played a lovely through ball to Bellamy. He was clean through...He was going to miss…he had to... Wales were not supposed to go 2-1 up! Round the keeper he went...the defenders on the line would surely clear it...The ball hit the net. Yeeeesssssssss! 

The whole crowd went berserk for the second time. Grown men were crying. 'You're not singing anymore!' we all sang to the Italian fans. They had gone quiet. They knew the balance of the game had changed, and Wales were on top. They were now playing with a swagger normally associated with Italian teams, attacking with great skill and pace. Giggs had an effort blocked and nearly played Davies in for a third. The noise was deafening now as the packed crowd urged Wales not to sit back on their lead but to go for a third. Again Davies was only inches away from a Giggs cross. 

Delaney then burst down the touchline and was crudely taken out into the advertising hoardings! The ball, though, fell to Bellamy who rounded the last defender before finishing from a tight angle! We had the cushion we wanted...or so we thought. Again the referee was playing his part. He had disallowed the goal. Italy, surely, wouldn't score now...would they? Twice they pumped the ball into our box as the ref played four minutes of injury time. Eventually, though, we got there. As the final whistle went, all the players raised their arms. The crowd went nuts! 

Well we won't qualify surely, will we? We're bound to lose twice to Azerbajian, or need a point from our last game and miss a penalty in the last minute. Or maybe...this is our time. Maybe...just maybe, the future is looking very bright.

All pictures courtesy of BBCi