A depleted Wales side travelled to Helskini on Wednesday evening to take on a Finnish side who had lost five of their last six international games. The friendly ended 0-0 after an uneventful ninety minutes.
The first half saw Wales start strongly by keeping the ball well in tight areas. However, as the half settled the game lost its flow, with both sets of players going down easily and taking advantage of the Estonian referee’s lenient free-kick-giving.
The best chance of the half came from a penalty when Brennan Johnson darted into the box and drew a foul from Finland’s Niko Hämäläinen. Harry Wilson stepped up to the spot, but failed to secure a deserved lead after delivering a pass-back-like effort into the gloves of debutant keeper Carljohan Eriksson.
The second half started with experienced Welsh players Wayne Hennessey and Ben Davies coming off the bench, and Rob Page’s men again came out of the blocks strongly. However, the consistent lack of a final product meant no real chances for Wales.
Harry Wilson had the opportunity to make up for his earlier miss in the form of a freekick just to the right of the D, but his effort was saved for a second time by Eriksson, who had a solid first game for his country.
A positive substitution in the form of Rubin Colwill further shifted the game in Wales’ favour, with the young Cardiff City Striker making an impact when coming on in the sixty-third minute.
In a final attempt to get the goal Wales deserved, Gareth Bale came off the bench for an eight-minute cameo. The experienced forward provided some well-needed creativity, but yet again a lack of sharpness in the final third saw the game end dead on ninety minutes, at 0-0.
Wales will now be looking ahead to their World Cup Qualifying match against Belarus, which will take place on Sunday 5th September at 14:00. With a number of players out due to injury, COVID and Russian visa reasons, the team face a tough task in qualifying for Qatar 2022.
