Wales 0 Poland 4
Women's U19 European Championships Qualifier, Flint
After a quick sojourn to Chester, in order to buy goalkeeper's gloves, I arrived in Flint needing cash. As I was getting cash out I became aware of two people that weren't speaking English nearby, it wasn't Welsh either, I deduced that it was Polish. As I left for the ground I had hopes of a cosmopolitan crowd.
When I got into Cae Castell there wasn't really a crowd, only the stand was full. More wonderful planning to play these games during afternoons. In this mini-tournament Wales were also due to play Russia and Finland, at Llandudno and Rhyl respectively. It seems that we always seem to draw the same countries.
As I was putting my flag up someone called to me. I turned around to find Karl and Nic, whom I'd met in Graz, walking toward me. Now I had someone to talk to and yet more proof of the narrow universe of Wales fans.
It seems that the Welsh team had been given hand-me-downs to wear; the shorts appeared more like plus fours. The match was ok, although Wales looked less accomplished than Poland unfortunately.
I made a rather wonderful realisation here; footballers don't have to dive!! My God, what a breakthrough!! This may be taken as a comment about professionalism and it's corrosive effect upon the Corinthian ideals of football. The fact that there were no fouls of any serious nature may be used as a criticism of male aggression in contexts like sport. On the other hand you could have just accepted a match like this as a refreshing change. One incident may provide the answer for the different demaenour of the players on show here; the Polish doctor, or physio, actually cradled an injured player off. Do male players simply lack affection from their peers? Wales trailed 1-0 at the break.
The second half saw Wales completely dominated, the Polish passing was far superior. Unfortunately Wales' goalkeeper made a couple of errors that led to goals. If only she had asked I would have let her use my new gloves. As the Polish goals went in (3 more) Karl and I chatted about Football in general and Wales in particular, I found that once again the time passed more enjoyably at a Wales match that way. Whichever level you decide to watch Wales play you will probably come away seeing a Welsh defeat. Ah well another chance to see Wales lose on Thursday.
Wales Lose - would you believe it?
