Five things we learned from Wales women’s great win against Estonia

Wales picked up three points in a dominant display against Estonia to stay second in World Cup qualifying Group I. It was a memorable night for a number of reasons and here BEN EVANS outlines five things we learned from the 4-0 win at Cardiff City Stadium.

Midfield Maestros

Wales’ three midfielders on the night – Jess Fishlock, Angharad James and captain, Sophie Ingle – were phenomenal.  The passing and movement throughout the game was what resulted in such a one-sided performance. The Estonian squad couldn’t keep up with the runs and the passes being made by those middle three.

Both James and Ingle found themselves on the scoresheet and showed just how important they can be to securing the play-off place in Group I. They dictated what happened for the duration of the game and it would be a surprise if we didn’t see them do the same in the remaining six qualifiers.

Experience Over Youth

It was the experienced players that truly came through for Wales on the night with every one of the four different scorers having at least 88 caps for their country.

That is not to say that the younger players didn’t impress also, but when we look at the dominant positions on the pitch it was the likes of Ingle, Natasha Harding and Helen Ward who showed just how important experience can be.

A Record Breaking Night

One of the other huge talking points in Cardiff last night was the record attendance. Wales rallied a crowd of 5,455, breaking their record by 400 people.

As well as this, hundreds of those tickets went to young girls connected to football teams. They were treated to a great performance by the players that they aspire to and this new record will only be the start for Wales as the rise of female footballers in the country grows tremendously.

A Tactical Masterclass

Gemma Grainger was appointed manager back in March of this year and has so far taken 10 points from four games in the World Cup qualifying campaign.

We could see Grainger was animated and always shouting instructions to her players, something we used to see her predecessor, Jayne Ludlow, do on a regular basis. Since coming in, Grainger has brought through a number of new young players to the squad, such as Esther Morgan and Hannah Cain and shown that she is willing to try a new system.

Throughout the game we saw the midfield playing passes over the defence and out to the wingers with numerous crosses finding their way into the box. This new passing system has really paid off and it will be fascinating to see whether Grainger will be the first manager to lead Wales to their first major tournament.

A Difficult Road Ahead

Despite such a strong performance, there is still a long way to go before we can think about qualification. Wales still have group leaders, France, to play twice, as well as difficult fixtures against Greece and Slovenia.

A 1-1 draw with Slovenia last week means that they present the greatest challenge for second place, but with the next game against them taking place in Wales, the team must use this to their advantage and gather another huge crowd to get behind the team and get some real belief that this campaign is the one.