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Wales 1-1 Belgium: Post-match analysis

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Wales secured a 1-1 draw against the world’s number one ranked team Belgium and kept their hopes alive to qualify for the World Cup 2022 through the playoffs round. 

Kevin De Bruyne gave the lead to Roberto Martínez’s side early into the game before Kieffer Moore scored the equaliser for the hosts before the interval. The Red Devils dominated the game but couldn’t manage to find another goal to come away with all three points. 

Following this result, Wales will have to go down through the playoffs route and the third-placed side from this group the Czech Republic, have also qualified for the playoffs due to their performance in the Nations League. Meanwhile, Belgium has already secured a place for the World Cup 2022 before coming into this game. 

Wales 1-1 Belgium:

Belgium boss Roberto Martínez made a few alterations to his squad. Ahead of this encounter as their World Cup qualification was secured before this game. So, the Red Devils boss gave a few fringe players opportunities to showcase their talents with the national squad. 

On the other hand, Wales boss Robert Page chose to go with a conservative back five systems. As they required a draw against the mighty Belgians and in the end they managed to earn one point from this encounter. 

The hosts tried to sit back and catch the opposition in the break. Wales had only 24% of ball possession compared to Belgium’s 76%. And the Red Devils made 16 attempts total and due to the lack of clinical finishing, only four of them were on target. 

On the other hand, Robert Page’s side had eight shots on goal and three of those were on target. One attempt crucially ended up in the back of the net to earn the all-important one point. 

Meanwhile, after reaching the playoffs, Wales have been given the seeded one spot which means Robert Page’s side will have the advantage of playing the one-legged semi-final round at home in March. 

The other playoff team from this group Czech Republic have to settle with the unseeded spot. They will have to play a one-legged semi-final round on the away ground. 

Apart from Wales, the other teams are in the seeded spot – Portugal, Italy, Scotland, Russia and Sweden. And the other unseeded teams are Poland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Turkey and Austria. 

After competing in these qualifying rounds, three teams will book their place for the World Cup 2022. The draw will be made on the back end of this month for the playoffs. 

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