One down, one to go. Wales are 90 minutes from qualifying for a third successive major tournament and will reach Euro 2024 if they beat Poland on Wednesday.
Yet this game was as much an indictment of UEFA’s bloated 24-team tournament as it was a celebration of Rob Page and his players.
These days it feels harder to miss out on international competitions than it does to reach them and some of the football on show here – particularly from Finland – proved the point.
Goals from David Brooks, Neco Williams, Brennan Johnson and substitute Dan James were enough to see Wales through to meet Robert Lewandowski and company here on Tuesday yet how a team as poor as Finland can get so close to reaching the Finals beggars belief.
They briefly gave themselves a chance when Teemu Pukki scored just before half-time yet threw that away by conceding the third less than two minutes after the break.
Teemu Pukki, Glen Kamara and Nikolai Alho aside, the Finns looked no better than a League One team. By making spots available through both qualifying and the Nations League, UEFA risk devaluing their elite tournament.
Consider this: Wales finished third in their group behind Turkey and Croatia, yet entered the play-offs thanks to Nations League performances and landed a home tie against Markku Kanerva’s plodders.
Poland are a much tougher proposition but if Wales qualify, it will have been not so much via the back door as under the garden gate and through the cat flap.
Not that Wales will care. Even without Gareth Bale, who retired after their woeful performance at the last World Cup, Page can count on a number of talented players who had more than enough to brush Finland aside.
And in front of the Cardiff crowd, you would be brave to back against them despatching Poland, too. The home fans were in superb voice here, delivering all the old hits to create an atmosphere that would intimidate teams better than Finland – and there are certainly plenty of those.
Wales fans are accustomed to being put through the wringer by their team but this time they seized the lead almost immediately. Harry Wilson played a one-two with Ethan Ampadu and though Lukas Hradecky palmed away his shot, the ball fell perfectly for Brooks to volley into an unguarded net.
With Brooks, Wilson and Brennan Johnson a mobile front three, Wales were at their most effective when breaking on the Finns, who lacked the imagination on the ball to trouble their hosts.
Yet Wales did switch off at the back occasionally. Daniel Hakans volleyed Nikolai Ahlo’s knock-down over and Pukki was allowed to run on to a simple ball over the top from Robert Ivanov, only to steer his effort too close to Danny Ward.
Shortly before the half-hour, Hakans trod on the ball when teed up in a fine position and the follow-up from Joel Pohjanpalo was blocked.
At the other end, Harry Wilson saw a 30-yard effort pushed away before Chris Mepham’s misplaced pass fell straight to Pukki, who could not take advantage.
Moments later, Wales were two up. Johnson was brought down on the edge of the box, Wilson set up Williams from the free-kick and the Nottingham Forest man found the top corner.
By now Wales must have felt they had one foot in the play-off final yet soon they were bracing themselves for a tricky second half.
Pohjanpalo turned Ahlo’s pass into the path of Pukki and the former Norwich man slid the ball past Ward to bring his team back into the game.
Yet the home side’s nerves were calmed barely a minute in the second half. Wilson’s free-kick was nodded back across goal by Ethan Ampadu and even though Brooks miskicked, Johnson was played onside and tapped in from two yards.
Their two-goal cushion restored, Wales knew there would be plenty of space on the break and Wilson might have scored a fourth soon after Kieffer Moore had replaced Brooks up front.
The Fulham man drifted inside on to his left foot and just missed the target from 20 yards. The visitors were starting to grow frustrated and Hakans was booked for a clear dive as he tried to draw a foul from Joe Rodon.
Then Moore could have put the game to bed but fired too close to Hradecky on the angle.
Even though they had plenty of height at the back, Finland were oddly vulnerable from set pieces and so it proved again in the 80th minute as Hradecky got both hands to Davies’ header but could not stop it creeping over the line.
The Finns embarrassment was spared when the goal was disallowed for a foul after a VAR check but this was never going to change the outcome.
And sure enough, the fourth arrived when James robbed a dawdling Miro Tenho, rounded Hradecky and slotted home.
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