Moldova 0 Wales 2
Teenage super sub Ben Woodburn was the inspiration for Wales as they scored two late goals to leapfrog the Republic of Ireland into second place in Group D.
The win moves the Welsh onto 14 points, one more than the Irish, who lost 1-0 at home to Serbia. The win in Dublin leaves the Serbs four points clear at the top of the World Cup qualifying group, but Wales have given themselves an excellent chance of reaching Russia via the play-offs.
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The play-off matches will be between the eight best runners-up in the nine qualifying groups and for Wales to finish second they must win their final two matches next month, away to Georgia and then at home to the Republic of Ireland.
They could even end up topping the group and going through automatically, although for that to happen Serbia would need to lose their final two matches against Georgia and Austria.
More likely is that they finish second, something which if it transpires they will have Woodburn to thank. The 17-year-old came off the bench to score the match-winner against Austria on Saturday, and last night in Chisinau he was sent on in the second-half with orders to unlock the Moldovan defence.
And unlock he did, galloping past defenders before crossing for Hal Robson-Kanu to head the first goal of the game ten minutes from time. Aaron Ramsey added a second in stoppage time, the Arsenal midfielder’s shot finding the back of the Moldovan net via a deflection.
It was a scoreline that reflected Wales dominance but nonetheless it was an uninspired performance from a Wales side that enjoyed 72% of possession.
Unable to take the chances that came their way, the visitors didn’t look like a side ranked 141 places above their opponents, but that changed when Woodburn appeared on the hour mark.
The Liverpool forward is all hustle and bustle, quick and creative, and his thrusting run into the Moldovan penalty area opened up their defence and gave Robson-Kanu the space to head home the all-important goal.
“Sometimes you have to dig a result out, you have to suffer and come through it,” said Wales manager Chris Coleman. “You have to show heart and courage and we have shown that.”
Asked to rate Wales’ chances of qualifying for next year’s World Cup (their only previous appearance in the tournament was in 1958), Coleman said: “We are still in the mix. You have to fancy Serbia but we have to try and get second. Still, very exciting for us and everything to play for… we have to be better in our all-round play though. We will need our perseverance and resilience again.”
As for the Republic of Ireland, their defeat to Serbia means their fate is now out of their hands after suffering their first loss in a competitive game under Martin O’Neill, which also brought to an end a run of nine unbeaten games at the Aviva Stadium.
“Their goal came out of the blue and set us back - but we came roaring back,” said O’Neill. “We could have got the result. I am disappointed but I am proud of the team.”
O’Neill was bullish when asked whether he thought Ireland could still make it to Russia next summer. “We have a chance,” he said. “Even if we had drawn here we would still probably have had to win the last two. We are capable of that.”
