Wales 1-1 Belgium: Three Things We Learned

The European qualifiers for next year’s World Cup are beginning to shift towards a conclusion with the play-offs now being just a few months away. Nobody was quite sure as to who would make it into the play-offs until the final set of fixtures but now, the picture is starting to become a whole lot clearer.

Last night, Wales were able to build some momentum heading into next March as they managed to hold Belgium to an entertaining 1-1 draw. The Red Devils were able to take the lead, but the hosts weren’t ready to let this one slip through their fingers.

Going blow for blow

Wales and Belgium always tend to have really fun games and this one was no exception. There’s just something about how both sides line up that makes it an unpredictable fixture, even though on the face of it, it should come across as a David vs Goliath sort of encounter. If the pair of them end up meeting again down the line, and maybe even at the World Cup next year, we wouldn’t be mad about it.

Belgian concern

If Belgium are serious about finally doing justice to their golden generation, they really need to be blowing teams like Wales away. We know they didn’t have as much riding on this game as Wales did, but they should still back themselves to do damage with the team they’ve got. There’s arguably going to be more pressure on their shoulders than a lot of other nations at next year’s World Cup, and if they want to live up to that, they need to discover a formula that’s going to get them over that hump.

Welsh hope in play-offs

As a result of this win, Wales have drawn a home leg in their play-off semi-final – and they’re also going to be seeded. That means the likes of Portugal and Italy won’t be on the cards, and instead, they could wind up playing North Macedonia.

There are still plenty of ways this can go, obviously, and nothing is guaranteed, but Wales should be feeling pretty confident about their chances.