“Latvia fails to halt Wales’ winning streak in qualifying”

Unleash the excitement as Wales football continued their promising start to Euro 2024 qualifying with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Latvia in Cardiff. The iconic Kieffer Moore’s tenth international goal secured Wales a precious victory, making it four points from their opening two games.

Wales had several opportunities to make their evening more comfortable against opponents ranked among Europe’s lowest. However, they held their nerves and achieved what many will consider an above-par start ahead of June’s qualifiers against Armenia and Turkey.

Rob Page will be delighted with his team’s performance, especially after a recent record of only two wins in 14 games. With Ben Davies and Brennan Johnson out due to injury, Page named the same side that had stunned the World Cup semi-finalists in Split.

The sell-out Cardiff City Stadium witnessed a capacity crowd of 32,806 paying homage to Gareth Bale, who recently ended his glittering career in January as the team’s most-capped player and record goalscorer, before kick-off. Bale received a pitchside presentation and was clearly emotional as he thanked the supporters for being able to play in front of the “best fans in the world.”

Despite Latvia being 133rd in the FIFA world rankings and 105 places below Wales, they still proved to be a nuisance at set plays, with Roberts Uldrikis being a useful focal point at 6ft 5in forward. Their goalkeeper Pavels Steinbors also made some remarkable saves, but they failed to find the back of the net against a well-structured Wales team.

Latvia’s late surge created anxiety for the home fans. Still, Wales held on for their first win in ten games, proving to be a significant boost for Page’s confident troops ahead of June’s qualifiers.