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With a goal that would have made the absent Gareth Bale proud, Harry Wilson earned Wales a victory that sent them to the top of their Nations League group and condemned the Republic of Ireland to bottom place. Wilson’s beautiful free-kick lit up an otherwise gruelling spectacle and intensified pressure on the Ireland manager, Martin O’Neill.
The two managers had promised to be bold in their approach. Ryan Giggs’s lineup backed up his words. The Wales manager gave first international starts to a couple of teenagers, Leeds’s Tyler Roberts leading the attack while the 18-year-old Matt Smith began in midfield. The experienced Sam Vokes and Andy King would have been safer options in the absence of Bale and Aaron Ramsey but Giggs put his confidence in youth as part of a plan to use speed and movement to pull Ireland apart, much as his team did when beating Ireland 4-1 in Cardiff last month.
Written by Paul Doyle at the Aviva Stadium
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/oct/16/republic-of-ireland-wales-nations-league-match-report under the title “Harry Wilson’s superb free-kick gives Wales win over Republic of Ireland”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
