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From Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales in Cardiff City Stadium
Wales was rescued by gareth Bale from a home draw Azerbaijan as his late goal snatched success to give their stuttering bid to qualify for Euro 2020 a lift.
Ryan Giggs’ unwanted shot a lead to funny style as before rolling out beyond a Salahat Agayev at the Azerbaijan target the ball looped high into the air from a Bale shot that was deflected and hit an Pavlo Pashayev.
But that papered over the cracks of a display that was sloppy from Wales, who surrendered a gloomy equaliser since Neil Taylor gave away the ball and saw Mahir Emreli dent on the rally after Wayne Hennessey could only parry his effort.
However, with a little over five minutes ago, Wales captain and all time leading goalscorer Bale came to their rescue once again because he headed in from close range, via the crossbar, to spark wild celebrations which showed just how close the hosts had begun to dismissing off their chances of qualifying for Euro 2020.
Wales is lifted by the result up to third in Group E – flat on six points with Slovakia – while the thumping of Croatia off win from Slovakia sees leaders are joined by the World Cup finalists Hungary on two points.
Back-to-back defeats in June against Croatia and Hungary – the first time Wales had dropped consecutive qualifiers for six years – had left Giggs’ side for the rest of this effort with little room for mistake.
The director himself confessed Wales would have to”win just about any game now”, starting with victory here against a diminished Azerbaijan side who had never won a European Championship qualifier from home.
Wales struggled to impose themselves, Regardless of being 85 areas above their opponents in the world rankings.
It was fitting, therefore, that the opening goal should arrive in these conditions that are farcical.
Pashayev was not even taking a look at the ball once it hit him on the side of the mind before dribbling into the web and dropped down from a great height.
Wales could laugh at their good luck, but it was a distraction from their failure to make real opportunities against resistance.
Bale looked livelier than he had done in June however, despite supplying a couple sights on goal to Tom Lawrence, the Derby finishing lacked the cutting edge.
Wales weren’t too concerned. A performance could have raised spirits provided that success was secure, there was hope.
When Azerbaijan struck to stun the Cardiff City Stadium into 18, but that changed after one hour.
Taylor made the initial error, cheaply giving away possession, and after a through-ball out of Ramil Sheydaev Taylor nor even Chris Mepham could grab Emreli, who capitalised on Hennessey’s inability to hold his first shot by shooting in the rally.
The floor was rippled around by A sense of foreboding. Could it be a return to the bad old times for Wales?
Despite the tension, the home fans refused to think and they roared at the closing stages in their side.
Wales poured in a desperate search for a goal and, together with Azerbaijan struggling to apparent following Joe Allen’s deflected shot pin-balled round the box, Bale rose to head in off the bar.
It was always supposed Bale will be Wales’ saviour, since he had been in Andorra in 2014 a year and in Cyprus.
He’s an icon of Welsh soccer who is as capable as he is dragging his group from the canvass of climbing to the occasions.
This was an instance of the latterand there was a part of redemption for Bale given his turbulent summer for club and country.
In June, he also cut a sometimes forlorn figure as Wales were beaten in Croatia and Hungary while speculation raged about his Real Madrid future.
Having played for six months, Bale’s lethargic body language spoke of a discontent formed in Spain, in which he was marginalised by Actual manager Zinedine Zidane and appeared set into the Chinese Super League.
However, a transformation was prompted by the collapse of injuries to players such as Eden Hazard and the transfer from Bale’s status as he score twice at Villarreal past Saturday and began the first three league matches of the season of Real.
Those were his first goals since March and they seemed to energise Bale from Azerbaijan. He awakened Wales’ assault and rushed back to help his defenders on more than 1 occasion.
His aim has been a deserved reward for his efforts, and it prompted a telling tale of the fist onto the touchline from Giggs, who will have been relieved in the arena as anyone.
Having lost seven of his 13 games in charge, yet another defeat might have been terminal for hopes of qualifying for Euro 2020 – and it might have put Giggs.
For his side and him, at Bale, Wales possess a saviour for several seasons.
Read more here: http://socceradvantage.com/?p=25785