So, Wales finally know what life after Gareth Bale looks like and it’s not so bad, after all. Just as the supporters in a lively away end were ready to swallow a slender defeat against World Cup semi-finalists, the substitute and Wales debutant Nathan Broadhead poked in a stoppage-time equaliser to stun Croatia in Split. Cue delirium as the away bench emptied into the technical area. A few hours before kick-off the Wales squad went for a pre-match stroll on a glistening stretch of the Dalmatian coast and by the end of the night they had clinched an unlikely draw to claim a point from their Group D Euro 2024 qualifying opener. Croatia should have been out of sight but Broadhead’s late equaliser cancelled out Andrej Kramaric’s first-half strike.
This match, Wales’s first since exiting the World Cup at the end of November, always had the makings of a tricky opening assignment against a team who finished third in Qatar. Since departing Doha, Joe Allen, Chris Gunter and Jonny Williams have stepped back from international duty, Bale has been busy wowing seasoned golfers at Pebble Beach after retiring from football altogether and manager Rob Page has added Eric Ramsay, first-team coach at Manchester United, to his staff as part of a reshuffle. That is not to say Wales’s starting lineup in Split was unfamiliar – every player in the XI got minutes in Qatar – but there was room for six uncapped players on the bench.
