Wales had been here before and yet they hadn't. Not since 1958 had the nation reached a major tournament without long-time talisman Gareth Bale and never before had they experienced the stuttering agony of a penalty shoot-out. Only fitting then, as the nation bid to qualify for a first major tournament since Bale's retirement, that the acid test would be so cruel.
If the jury is out on the best way to win a football match, then there is surely no debate of the worst way to lose it. After Poland failed to register a shot on target through regular and injury time, Dan James' penalty veered ever too softly left after a series eye-wateringly spectacular spot-kicks before him. And as keeper Wojciech Szczesny did the same, there was a brief moment of silence, as if Cardiff City Stadium was attempting to reconcile with a pain once familiar but, for the last few years, has been so pleasantly distant.
Szczesny stood with his arms akimbo, saviour mode. Because that is what he was. Lewandowski, 35 and back turned because even a Champions League winner is vulnerable in these moments, turned around to see his teammates searing goal-wards in celebration. The Barcelona star smiled, joining them, their tickets punched to Germany for the summer. Around them, Wales players crumpled to the ground, a sour reminder of the miseries this sport can produce.
Mouths were slightly agape with news striker Kieffer Moore would replace David Brooks in the starting XI. Manager Rob Page had more than enough currency with which to play after his vindicated squad selection against Finland but the change was telling.
A contest billed to be defined by grit and toughness was being adhered to accordingly with Moore's inclusion, Page decidedly attempting to match Poland for muscle. The flitting grace of Brooks, who later on was confirmed to have suffered from illness all week, would have to be reserved for later.
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Poland, unchanged from their 5-1 rout of Estonia, were geed-up for the challenge. And while the hosts could at least vaunt home advantage, having lost no more than two home qualifiers since 2014 and just three at home in Page’s tenure, the tale of the tape lent in Poland’s favour.
Yet Wales’ recent history of success arrives from the team’s ability to read its long history, acknowledge it, then bin it, a chuck of the lighter in for good measure. By the same token, how often can one country of three million-plus carry on that mission?
The players of Poland celebrate after victory in the penalty shoot outThe nature of the game was decided before a ball was kicked, anthem singing transforming into its own febrile battle ground. The home fans shouted as the visitors’ anthem crackled over the intercom. The visitors– having been warned by the Welsh FA of the prohibitions for using pyrotechnics – subsequently erupted their sliver of Cardiff City Stadium’s Family Stand into a frothing red gas. Welsh fans took their turn to sing, Poland responded dutifully with whistles.
So came a bruising and exquisitely tense affair played out in a cauldron of noise. Neither side were particularly good, both waiting for the other to blink, to betray something. Poland’s chances came early, first Karol Swiderski sliding in but failing by millimetres to make contact with Nicola Zalewski’s cross. Jakub Piotrowski cracked one from deep but it whistled into the Canton Stand.
Wales could rely on the calibre of Brennan Johnson and Harry Wilson, the former’s pace and the latter’s scintillating poise proving a nuisance for Poland’s ageing defence. Moore’s towering presence was the obvious and most compelling target, though the Ipswich striker struggled to hit his.
Wales had the better of a full-blooded first-half in which tempers flared more often than either side was able to create clear-cut chances to score. There is little else to say other than the game blistered, all grime and scrap. Players fell and held various body parts. Both teams and their fans alternated remonstrating with official Daniele Orsato for perceived injustices. Chances arrived frayed on the ends, the challenges not so much last-ditch as perennially dramatic.
Referee Daniele Orsato interacts with Kieffer Moore after Wojciech Szczesny goes down with an injury (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)In the rarefied spaces: football. Wales believed they’d finally played it well enough in first-half injury time as Moore’s header was whipped on by Ben Davies and crashing into the bottom corner. The Wales bench exploded. The Tottenham Hotspur defender was flagged marginally offside. A turgid stalemate remained.
The second-half brought little change. Orsato began to brandish his card book, both Piotrowski and Jordan James etching in their names early. Moore's threat grew, so did Lewandowski's, though the latter could at least force Szczesny into a fingertip save, while the Barcelona star blazed his header over the bar. In lieu of goals, challenges and tackles were celebrated in raptures.
Poland, abandoning caution, found their form and Wales were suddenly on the ropes. How the visitors weren't clear by the time Dan James arrived in the 70th minute came down to Davies' interventions and Poland's growing profligacy.
Ben Davies and Robert Lewandowski were locked in a fierce battle all match (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)And as the clock wound down, tensions hissed. Lewandowski ripped a low wide shot from outside the area. The Champions League winner hung his head. On the other end, Moore was apoplectic with Orsato as another cynical shirt pull in the box went without impunity.
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The heralding of extra-time signalled the arrival of the stretch mats, where tired legs were rung out like brawny ropes. Soon, Davies rampaged down the left and his low cross slipped in perfectly but no Welsh player was there. Poland roared down pitch, Piotrowski's effort curling ever so wrong. Next Moore barrelled down Szczesny but failed to get his shot away.
Wales fans stood and sat and eventually just surrendered to standing, their songs adopting an element of agonising desperation with minutes separating them and a first-ever competitive penalty shoot-out. Poland shelled Wales' box, but a tireless Welsh defence beckoned. With a minute of added time in extra-time, Wales defender Chris Mepham was sent off for a second offence. Poland's free-kick came and went. Penalties beckoned.
Lewandowski was up first and rolled his coolly down the middle. Davies followed, smashing in with no mistake. Both Sebastian Szymanski and Moore converted, the latter smashing his spectacularly off inside the crossbar. The theme seemed to be spectacular penalties, and Przemyslaw Frankowski, Harry Wilson, Nicola Zalewski, Neco Williams and Krzysztof Piatek obliged, ratcheting up the tension to boiling point as James stepped up, his effort denied.
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