Two years to the day since penalty shootout heartbreak against Poland, more agony from 12 yards for Wales. Bosnia and Herzegovina prevailed on spot-kicks after a typically absorbing night in the Welsh capital, one that went the distance, more than 133 minutes passed before Brennan Johnson spooned over and Neco Williams saw his penalty saved by Nikola Vasilj, who read Williams’s effort to his left.
For so long it had seemed Daniel James, whose spot-kick was saved by Wojciech Szczesny to kill hopes of reaching Euro 2024, would be the match-winner but Edin Dzeko, who turned 40 this month, glanced in a header to take the game to extra time. For the second successive qualifying campaign, the locals left the Cardiff City Stadium with that horrible feeling in the pits of their stomachs, a numbness.
At 1-0, James cracked a shot against the underside of the bar, via a deflection from Tarik Muharemovic but then Dzeko headed in at a corner to stun the hosts. Dzeko’s work was done, the former Manchester City striker withdrawn at the end of normal time. Dzeko played the role of masseuse, easing the cramp in the legs of Ermedin Demirovic and in extra time Dzeko was booked for confronting Craig Bellamy in the home technical area. Muharemovic made a preposterous headed block to deny Wilson a certain goal four minutes into extra time but ultimately the game boiled down to penalties, the substitute Kerim Alajbegovic scoring the decisive spot-kick.
