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Wales beat Ukraine to reach first World Cup in 64 years

Other News Materials 5 June 2022 22:50 (UTC +04:00)
Wales beat Ukraine to reach first World Cup in 64 years

Ukraine captain Andriy Yarmolenko headed Gareth Bale’s powerful free-kick from the corner of the penalty area into his own net in what turned out to be the decisive moment of the game, Trend reports citing One Football.

The visitors had started the better of the two sides with Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey having to be alert to deny efforts from Viktor Tysgankov and Roman Yaremchuk.

But against the run of play, Bale’s drive took a wicked deflection to wrong-foot Heorhiy Bushchan in Wales’ first attempt at goal midway through the first half.

Yarmolenko will have felt hard done by in the 41st minute when he appeared to have been tripped by Joe Allen in the box but no penalty was awarded even after a VAR check.

Aaron Ramsey missed a golden chance to extend Wales’ lead at the start of the second half when he was found by Kieffer Moore’s pull-back but he flashed his shot wide of the far post.

Hennessey then pulled off a heroic save with feet to keep out Tysgankov from eight yards out after he was found by Vitaliy Mykolenko’s low drive.

It was Oleksandr Petrakov’s side who continued to probe and prod in the second period in search of an equaliser, although the hosts had two great opportunities to put the game to bed.

Substitute Brennan Johnson hit the post before Bale forced a solid save from Bushchan from close range.

Ukraine will wonder how they didn’t equalise with two chances in the dying minutes.

First, the ball fell to Yarmolenko unmarked in the box six yards out but his shot was denied by a stunning last-gasp block from Ben Davies.

Hennessey then had the Wales supporters on their feet after he produced a one-handed save to keep out Artem Dovbyk’s header in the 83rd minute.

Robert Page’s men held on to book Wales’ first appearance in a World Cup finals since 1958. They will join England, USA and Iran in Group B.

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