Today I'm going back just two years to 2019 and Wales' European Championships Qualifier against Azerbaijan held at the Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff. And no I'm not Welsh! In recent years I have taken the opportunity to watch a few games in the Principality whenever England are not playing at Wembley on the same night. Apart from the fact that I do love an International football match, I've always enjoyed seeing Gareth Bale play who I consider to be one of the best players I have ever seen and certainly in my all-time top 10.
As you can see from the programme cover, Wales seems to be becoming increasingly strident when it comes to use of the Welsh language. I can remember it as having virtually died out in the 1970's and 80's when it only seemed to be spoken in the far north and west of the country. These days however, thanks to the concerted efforts of a number of patriots, the language is now taught in schools again and a whole new generation have some familiarity with it. Whether this is a good thing or not is open to debate. Clearly, having government forms printed in multiple languages adds cost and forces a focus on Welsh speakers when it comes to recruiting for public service jobs. Whether it is useful to have Welsh as a second language is also debatable. Obviously it's helpful when confronted by Welsh speakers but perhaps the language-Nazis would have been better off insisting that Welsh school children be taught Spanish or Mandarin Chinese as a more widely used second language? But what drives me absolutely bonkers as an Englishman is the insistence on dual-language signs when almost all Welsh speakers can also speak English fluently. There also seems to be an insistence that a Welsh word be created where one did not exist just so that it isn't an English word that gets used. For example, there are signs in Newport advertising the existence of Squash courts. And the Welsh word for Squash? Well it's not Squash because that's too English. No the Welsh play Sboncen! Do you think that that is an ancient Welsh word? No! It's been invented recently to avoid using an English word! Barmy!
I'll stop ranting now! In front of a crowd of only 28,385, the first goal on the night went in favour of Wales but was scored by the Azeri defender Pavlo Pashaev who, from a cross provided by Bale, headed the ball back to where his keeper should have been and the ball rolled gently into the net. Early in the second half however the Azeri got an equaliser on the break with Mahir Madotov scoring at the second attempt after Wayne Hennessy's initial save. It increasingly began to look as though the Azeri would escape with the draw which they had come for but the stage was set for that man Bale. With just six minutes remaining he got his head to a looping ball and it crossed the line before being hooked away. It was a crucial moment in Wales' Euro2020 qualification campaign as it kept them alive and with their fate resting in their own hands still.
In the end, Wales automatically qualified in second place behind Croatia in Group E, a group of five nations that also included Hungary and Slovakia. Wales finished just one point ahead of the Slovakians and two ahead of Hungary, both of whom had one remaining life via Play-offs thanks to their positions in the new Nations League. Qualification was a real feather in the cap for Manager Ryan Giggs who, sadly, was not destined to lead his team into the Euro2020 tournament itself due to a still pending court case.
CRB Match No. 2324
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