That’ll do from this. Cheers for reading, and we’ll be back tomorrow night with some more qualifying action.
A superb late Gareth Bale header gave Wales a 1-0 win over Cyprus and put them within just three points of qualification for Euro 2016
Updated
Thu 3 Sep 2015 16.52 EDT
First published on Thu 3 Sep 2015 13.25 EDT
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Elsewhere, Iceland are now just a point away from qualifying after an extraordinary 1-0 win over the Netherlands in Amsterdam, a game in which Arjen Robben went off injured in the first half and Bruno Martins Indi was sent off. Here are the scores from the rest of tonight’s qualifiers.
Elsewhere in this group, Belgium came from behind to beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-1, and while it looked like they were going to put away a bucketful, Israel ‘only’ beat Andorra 4-0. This is how the table looks now, with three games remaining.
One win away. Just one win away. The travelling Welsh fans go nuts behind the goal, and they are quite right to. They weren’t especially good in terms of an all-round performance, but that absolutely brilliant header by Bale was enough to earn them the win. If they beat Israel in Cardiff on Sunday, they’re through.
Full-time: Cyprus 0-1 Wales
Peeeeeeeeeep!
90 mins + 2: Taylor does well to run the ball out of defence and down the left, but they give the ball away after Ramsey gives the ball away. That’s been a familiar theme in this one. Cyprus then advance up the other end but Economides shoots way over the bar. Sean McDonald comes on for Ramsey.
90 mins: Sub for Wales - Simon Church is on for Bale. Three minutes of added time to come.
89 mins: Great save by Hennessey! Nikolaou somehow chisels out some space for himself on the edge of the box and squirts a shot towards goal, but an unsighted Hennessey reacts slowly but then dives full to his left and claws it away.
88 mins: Lots of players out on their feet in Nicosia. None more so than Williams, who is still carrying that injury from earlier, but he’s defending like an absolute hero still.
86 mins: Good lord Cyprus nearly go level with a freak goal. Williams heads away a cross from the right, but it ricochets off Sotiriou, just introduced to the game, and zips just wide of the post, Hennessey rooted. Eeesh.
85 mins: “Typical,” glass-half-empties Matt Dony. “For the first time in a generation, we have a very good team, and we will probably qualify for a major championships on merit. But it’s massively devalued by UEFA letting about a million teams take part in the Euros.”
Not if you finish top of the group, Matt.
84 mins: Sub for Cyprus - Makris off, Sotiriou on.
83 mins: Genuinely sensational stuff that, from Wales. They’ve not been good for much of the preceding 80-odd minutes, but a few moments of real quality look to have won this one.
82 mins: Magic stuff from the Welsh. Ramsey works himself some space from a throw on the right, then slips in a lovely pass to Richards, who clips over a cross into the middle. And there’s Bale, powering onto the ball and absolutely bulleting a header past the keeper, who barely smelt it. It’s close now!
GOAL! Cyprus 0-1 Wales (Bale 82)
What a goal!
80 mins: From nowhere, a brilliant passage of play from Wales that should have resulted in a goal. Brilliant work from Edwards and Taylor leads to the latter creating space, then cutting back from the byline to Ramsey, but his shot is well saved. Great play, that.
79 mins: Another goal in Brussels, and the comeback is 100% complete as Eden Hazard sticks home a penalty to make it Belgium 3-1 Bosnia-Herzegovina.
78 mins: Ach, shocking stuff from Bale, shanking a simple, ten-yard pass intended for Taylor on the left wing way out of play. Eeesh.
77 mins: Another foul, this time Makris on Taylor. Still no booking. This ref might have brought a slim volume of poetry out with him instead of his notebook and cards. Hope he recites something in a bit.
76 mins: Half chance for new sub Englezou, getting the ball out on the left side of the area with a chance of a shot, but he drags it across goal and wide of the far post.
75 mins: Bale is chopped to the floor by Makridis. Still no booking.
74 mins: Sub for Cyprus - Charalambides is off, and Nikos Englezou is on.
72 mins: Bale drifts out to the left and drives towards the byline, cuts back at pace for Vokes in the middle but the Burley forward can’t quite get enough on the shot.
Meanwhile, Italy have taken the lead against Malta, through Graziano Pelle.
70 mins: King again carelessly gives the ball away as he looks to switch the ball out to the left. Poor this from most of the Welsh midfield.
68 mins: Sub for Wales - Robson-Kanu, who has been excellent but has run his legs down to his knees, is replaced by Sam Vokes.
67 mins: More neat work from Robson-Kanu who plays a lovely little flick round a defender, but Ramsey had just strayed offside. The pitchside mic picks up one of the Welsh coaching staff do an absolutely colossal swear, which is always childishly entertaining to hear.
65 mins: Bale finally shows a bit of something, driving from around 35 yards out into the penalty area, but his cross can’t find either Ramsey or Robson-Kanu who were making rather tentative attempts to get into the box.
Meanwhile, a sub for Cyprus, as Giorgios Kolokoudias comes on instead of Mytidis.
63 mins: At this stage, Wales will probably be reasonably happy to get away with a draw from this one. Williams and Robson-Kanu apart, they’ve been relatively poor, so a point and some face saved would be smashing.
61 mins: Quiet spell. Makridis humps a cross from the left over to the far post, breezily ignoring the two or three attackers that had gathered at the near.
58 mins: Ramsey gives the ball away in midfield yet again, which sets Economides up to take a shot from the edge of the box, but it skims over. Andy King isn’t having the best of games either, so it’s clear where their problems lie in this game so far.
55 mins: Williams has been colossal from about the 10th minute onwards. He makes two blocks in quick succession on the edge of the area after some iffy defending either side of him. He might actually have hurt himself doing that too, as he’s limping around. Hopefully for the Welsh side’s sake he’s OK.
53 mins: Hello. A goal in Amsterdam, and it’s gone to Iceland. Gylfi Sigurdsson makes it Netherlands 0-1 Iceland. Not a particularly inspiring start to the Danny Blind era, then.
51 mins: Brilliant defending from Williams, gliding out from defence in a McGrathian fashion to half a nascent Cypriot attack and launch a Welsh counter. Robson-Kanu is set through on goal but his touch is a little heavy, and Giorgallides does well to come out and claim the ball at the Welsh striker’s feet. He goes down and claims the penalty, but nothing doing on that occasion.
49 mins: Good lord. Economides wipes out Bale with a challenge that most of the time would be a fairly straightforward yellow card, but this referee for reasons passing understanding doesn’t even deem it worthy of a free kick. He’s having a...creative evening, this official.
48 mins: Wales attack down the left as Ramsey feeds Bale on the flank, but despite a typically muscular run his cross is far too close to the keeper and the attack withers.
46 mins: We’re away. And Cyprus have a chance, as Nikolaou takes a dipping shot from range that Hennessey shovels away from goal, and Williams is there to mop up the pieces.
The ‘Comedy National Stereotypes Dept’ is apparently in charge of the PA, as ‘Zorba The Greek’ plays to accompany the players out for the second 45.
Half-time scores from across Europe. That Italy one is now half-time.
8 - Aaron Ramsey lost possession more often than any other player in the first-half against Cyprus tonight. Testing.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 3, 2015
Well, a slightly curious half. Not an especially good game, hampered by a dry, divoty pitch, but Cyprus have caused Wales a few issues with their relentless aggression. Chris Coleman’s men haven’t been at their best by a long chalk, with Ramsey in particular looking poor, but Bale has made a few of those runs and they really should be ahead, an Edwards header ruled out for no apparent reason by a referee whose decisions have been rather eccentric, to say the least. Still, there’s nothing for the Welsh to get particularly nervous about. Yet.
Half-time: Cyprus 0-0 Wales
Peeeeeeeeeeep. ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ plays on the PA.
44 mins: Turnaround in Brussels, as Manchester City’s latest trinket Kevin de Bruyne has made it 2-1 to Belgium against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
43 mins: Ooof, this most certainly hasn’t been Ramsey’s best game. Robson-Kanu does great work down the right, powering down the flank as they have a three-on-three counter, he cuts back to Ramsey but he takes a terrible touch and the ball dribbles through to the keeper. Possibly a little bobble on that, but still poor from Ramsey.
Ramsey is as frustrating to watch for Wales as he is for Arsenal at the moment. Poor decisions all around. #walesaway @NickMiller79
— Lindan (@Cthuloid) September 3, 2015
42 mins: This pitch really does have some significant bobbles on it. Davies plays a pass back to Hennessey and the ball virtually dog-legs on its way to the keeper. Fortunately for Wales it was far enough away to not be a particular problem.
40 mins: Demetriou gets down the right and his cross is blocked by Taylor’s arm, and it’s a free kick in the corner. Charalambides tries a pre-planned set pieces by cutting it back low to Makridis, but his shot goes over the bar.
38 mins: Another for Israel, as Munas Dabbur makes it 4-0 against Andorra.
36 mins: Bale gets a runnin’ again, feeding Ramsey on the left side of the area then goes for the return, but Ramsey’s pass hits the shins of defender Dossa Junior.
35 mins: Cyprus rather lucky to get away with one after some highly dangerous passing between keeper Giorgallides and Demetriou in defence.
34 mins: Spicy goings on in Amsterdam - no goals yet between the Netherlands and Iceland, but new captain Arjen Robben has gone off injured, while Bruno Martins Indi has been sent off.
32 mins: Amazing that none of these Cypriot players have been booked yet. Antoniades is the latest to go in with an extremely robust challenge, although not necessarily a foul. One of their players will have his collar felt sooner or later.
