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Late drama sees Wales beaten by Dutch in Nations League

WALES continued their Nations League campaign on Wednesday night (Jun 8) with a dramatic 2-1 defeat against the Netherlands at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Fresh from qualification for the World Cup, Rob Page made a couple of changes with Brennan Johnson starting as well as Rhys Norrington-Davies while Gareth Bale dropped to the bench.

Netherlands started strongly as they had plenty of possession. Their first chance came after nine minutes when a mistake presented the ball to Teun Koopmeiners and although the Dutch made space for a shot it was well blocked by the Welsh defenders.

Johnston then found Norrington-Davies who in turn found Harry Wilson but his cross was cleared for a corner. Wilson then headed wide from the resulting set piece.

Chris Mepham then crossed into the box but Norrington-Davies headed over the bar.

On 26 minutes Wales won a free kick but with Bale on the bench the kicking duty fell to Harry Wilson.

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Wilson’s good effort was well saved by Dutch keeper Mark Flekken who pushed the ball well away from danger.

Koopmeiners threatened again but his effort was blocked by Ben Davies.

Cody Gakpo also went close late in the half but he saw his shot deflect off Mepham and go just wide for a corner.

It remained 0-0 at the break but the Dutch took the lead early in the second half.

Just four minutes in, Koopmeiners fired low into the bottom left corner of the net from the edge of the box.

Wales came forward and it appeared Dan James was fouled on the edge of the box but nothing was given.

The home side looked to up the tempo, trying to get the ball to Johnson or James.

With just over twenty minutes to go it was James who looked to make a difference as he went on a 50-yard run but his shot went over the bar.

Gareth Bale was brought on with ten minutes to go as the home side looked to salvage a point from the game.

Hans Hateboer then crossed from the right but it was met by Joe Rodon who cleared the danger.

With time running out and five minutes of injury time shown, Wales attacked and Connor Roberts sent an excellent ball into the box and Norrington-Davies rose highest to head the ball into the net.

Wales looked to hold on to their point but the Dutch had other ideas as they pushed forward with Tyrell Malacia who crossed into the box for Wout Weghorst whose diving header flew past the Welsh keeper.

The final whistle came soon after and it signalled Wales’ first defeat at home since 2018, a run of 20 matches.

It was a dissapointing defeat for Wales but they played well against a good side and they will be hoping to secure a good result in their next game on Saturday, June 11, when they take on Belgium, again at the Cardiff City Stadium, kick off 7:45pm.

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