World Cup LIVE: Northern Ireland and Wales beaten in qualifying play-offs

'Last stages of the game were hard for Wales'

Wales 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-4 on pens)

Sam Vokes

Former Wales striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

I think that 20 minutes was tough when we made a few changes. I think in that moment we missed a Keiffer Moore, someone we can go a bit longer to and get us up the pitch.

I think Dan James was doing that before he came off, but Bosnia came with a different kind of game plan than you see in international football normally. They went longer and made it hard for us and ultimately, up until the 86th minute, when Edin Dzeko scored, I thought I was coming on here to have a bit of a celebration and look forward to Tuesday night.

'It's a big lesson for us'

Wales 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-4 on pens)

Wales boss Craig Bellamy was clearly disappointed that his team failed to beat Bosnia to set up a play-off final against Italy, but added that he felt this disappointment should be a "big lesson" for his team.

He told BBC Sport: "I'm definitely proud but very disappointed. It's not the hard luck Wales one [story] - we expect to be at major tournaments, or [rather] we really push ourselves to be there. There was a lot of good tonight that really gave us an opportunity of being there, but yeah, it wasn't to be."

On whether he got what he wanted from his team: "The last 20 minutes was the only time we stopped playing. We can't stop playing, we just can't. It's understandable, we are leading, they throw more players on, more forwards come on that we weren't pressing. But when we had the ball we didn't have the energy to press because of the simple fact that we didn't keep the ball for long enough.

"It's a big lesson for us - if you want to see games out you have got to see them out with the ball."

Click on the play icon below to watch the full interview.

'Lost for words'

Wales 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-4 on pens)

Wales

Wales captain Ethan Ampadu told Match of the Day Wales: "We're lost for words. We prepared as well as we could have and I thought we played well.

"We can hold our heads up high because we fought for everything, sometimes in life things don't go your way.

"We're always going to look back at what we could have done better, maybe we could have managed the last 10 minutes better to make sure we stayed on the attacking foot.

"That's something we can look at in the future, but for now it's a lot of disappointment."

'Tough one to take last night'

Wales 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-4 on pens)

Sam Vokes

Former Wales striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

It's an emotional rollercoaster being a Wales fan or player, and we've been through it all. And that's another story we've seen last night. It was a tough one to take because I think anyone that saw the game would say we were the stronger team.

And having seen a Welsh Craig Bellamy side over the years develop to what he works on, you can see what he does on the training ground, he leaves no stone unturned.

I understand what he's saying, there's no luck when it comes to penalties, but it was a tough one to take last night. I'm sure those boys in camp will be feeling sorry for themselves this morning because they deserved more out of the game.

Wales squander winning position

Wales 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-4 on pens)

Dafydd Pritchard

BBC Sport Wales

For a third successive campaign, Wales found themselves two home wins away from qualifying for a major tournament.

Having successfully navigated the play-off to reach the 2022 World Cup - their first for 64 years - they missed out on Euro 2024 at the final hurdle against Poland, two years ago to the day.

Contrasting as the emotions were on those occasions, the experiences all contributed to how familiar a game of this magnitude felt for Wales. They had been here before.

This was for large parts a mature performance but, having looked like putting the result beyond doubt as they chased a second goal when 1-0 up, it was alarming how quickly Wales allowed the game to get away from them.

Bellamy's substitutions laid bare his squad's lack of strength in depth, as Wales faded badly and struggled to regain momentum.

This defeat will hurt the head coach and his players, who will use this pain as fuel for their attempts to qualify for Euro 2028, which Wales will co-host with England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.

Before then, however, they must analyse this defeat and learn some harsh lessons from a qualifying campaign which promised so much but ultimately delivered nothing.

Czech Republic end Irish World Cup dream with shootout win

Czech Republic 2-2 Republic of Ireland (4-3 on pens)

The Republic of Ireland's dream of reaching the World Cup finals for the first time in 24 years was shattered by the Czech Republic, who won 4-3 on penalties at the end of an incident-packed play-off semi-final in Prague.

After Finn Azaz and Alan Browne had shootout efforts saved, Czech Republic forward Jan Kliment fired the decisive kick past Caoimhin Kelleher to break Irish hearts and send the hosts into Tuesday's play-off final against Denmark.

The Republic of Ireland had briefly been in the driving seat as Troy Parrott's penalty and Czech goalkeeper Matej Kovar's own goal put Heimir Hallgrimsson's side two up after 23 minutes.

However, the hosts hit back quickly through Patrik Schick, who converted emphatically from the spot after Ryan Manning's foul on Czech captain Ladislav Krejci.

While the Irish looked comfortable for large spells in the second half and nearly restored their two-goal led when Jayson Molumby struck a post, Krejci marked the first game of his captaincy with an 86th-minute header to force extra time.

In the shootout, Parrott, Krejci, Adam Idah, Tomas Soucek and Robbie Brady all scored before Kelleher's save from Mojmir Chytil raised hopes of an Irish win.

But after Kovar denied Azaz and Browne either side of Schick's successful attempt, Kliment blasted home to send Fortuna Arena into raptures and leave the Irish players devastated.

Italy shatter Northern Ireland's World Cup bid

Italy 2-0 Northern Ireland

Four-time winners Italy moved one game closer to a first World Cup since 2014 with victory to end Northern Ireland's dream in their play-off semi-final in Bergamo.

Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali broke the visitors' resolve, and the growing tension at the New Balance Arena, with a thunderous effort from the edge of the area in the 56th minute.

As Northern Ireland pressed forward, Moise Kean added a second off the inside of the post to secure the success with 10 minutes remaining.

Prior to that, Michael O'Neill's side - with the second-youngest average age since World War Two at just 22.5 years - had not only frustrated Italy, but had good spells going forward, but a lack of end product in the final third proved to be costly.

Northern Ireland, who were aiming to qualify for a first World Cup in 40 years and a fourth time in their history, did not trouble home keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

But it was Italy, under huge pressure not to become the first winners to miss out on three tournaments in a row, who overcame a side without three key players in Conor Bradley, Dan Ballard and Ali McCann.

Wales suffer agonising World Cup play-off shootout loss to Bosnia

Wales 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-4 on pens)

Wales suffered the agony of missing out on a second successive major tournament on penalties as they lost their World Cup semi-final at home to Bosnia and Herzegovina following a shootout in Cardiff.

Craig Bellamy's side had looked on course to set up a play-off final against Italy as they led 1-0 in the second half, only to concede a late equaliser before losing on penalties, as they did to Poland exactly two years earlier in their Euro 2024 play-off final.

The home side took the lead in spectacular fashion six minutes after the restart, Daniel James latching on to a wayward backpass and smashing a swerving 25-yard strike into the roof of the net.

Bosnia grew in confidence and had chances to equalise before their 40-year-old captain, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, headed in from a corner in the 86th minute to send the game into added time.

Both teams looked exhausted in extra time, unable to create any opportunities of note, with Bosnia trying everything they could to run down the clock and force penalties.

Darlow denied Demirovic again from the first spot-kick, while Wilson, Haris Tabakovic, Mark Harris and Ivan Basic all scored before Brennan Johnson skied his to make it 2-2 after three penalties each.

Amir Hadziahmetovic converted Bosnia's next penalty and Neco Williams saw his saved by Nikola Vasilj, handing Kerim Alajbegovic the chance to clinch victory as he sent Darlow the wrong way.

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