Poland secured their place in the finals of the World Cup 2006 in Germany by beating Wales 1-0 tonight.

John Toshack’s Wales Team travelled to Poland, knowing they cannot qualify for the World Cup 2006 in Germany, but determined to get the result they needed to help push them up the qualification tables for the next European Nations Tournament.

The Home team set about their opponents from the off, hoping to overwhelm the defence with their pace and power, Wales were lucky to avoid going behind but managed to cling on and gradually subdue the Polish forwards. West Ham’s Danny Gabbidon was imperious at the heart of the defence, while Robert Earnshaw was always a threat up front.

Although Poland had a corner count of 10-2 and had four shots on target, while Wales only had one, the first half finished pretty much even, with Toshack;s men leaving the field happy to have contained the potentially destructive Polish strike force.

The second half began much as the first, with Poland laying siege on the Welsh goal, the Home team having a good shout for a penalty turned down in the opening minutes, were not to be denied and were finally awarded a penalty which they duly converted, following a chronic lapse in the Wales defence.

The goal, coming so early in the second half, seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Welsh, undoing all their hard work from the first half, while the Poles were able to relax and play the sort of attacking football that they have become renowned for.

Despite their best efforts, Wales always looked a yard off the pace; perhaps their efforts against England in their previous qualifier had begun to take their toll, and as the match wore on, The Poles made good use of the space that was increasingly becoming available, forcing Wales to defend in numbers, consequently, even with two strikers on the pitch, the Welsh were only capable of launching long ball punts forward in order to avoid the congested midfield areas.

Many of John Toshack’s players come from the lower leagues in the UK, and some have played an enormous amount of matches in the last fortnight, so they may be forgiven for having appeared ‘leggy’ as the game drew to it’s conclusion, it is also possible that one or two of the player’s domestic managers have told them to take care and avoid injury at all cost.

Even the normally immaculate Gabbidon conceded a scrappy free kick in the remaining few minutes, which was quickly taken and narrowly sailed over the bar. The match played out with the crowd preparing to celebrate their World Cup qualification, but as is often the case in these situations, they were given a scare as Wales suddenly began to exert their first real pressure of the night.

The addition of four minutes injury time did little to help soothe the home team’s supporters nerves, and the final whistle was greeted with great relief. Automatic qualification assured, the Poles can now look forward to their appearance in the World Cup Finals in Germany.

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