By Gareth James
Wales’ two-goal hero Harry Wilson has repeated the claims of his captain and teammate Ben Davies that comments from FAW chief Noel Mooney were “not helpful” prior to their stunning Euro 2024 victory over Croatia.
Wilson celebrated his 50th cap with a brilliant double as Wales boosted their Euro 2024 automatic qualification hopes with a 2-1 win in Cardiff.
The victory came after FAW chief executive Mooney had piled the pressure on manager Rob Page by declaring there would be a review of Page’s position as soon as the qualifiers were over and suggested that Wales “had to keep winning” in order for the manager to keep his job.
WILSON ETO!
Mae Cymru yn breuddwydio wrth i Harry Wilson dyblu mantais Cymru gyda’i ail gôl!
Wales are in dreamland in Cardiff as Harry Wilson adds to his opening goal this time with a header against Croatia.
— S4C Chwaraeon 🏴 (@S4Cchwaraeon) October 15, 2023
Those remarks angered the Welsh players, especially when reports emerged at the weekend claiming that Mooney had been behind a summer attempt to dump Page and replace him with Roy Keane.
The comments were branded unhelpful by Daves on the eve of the Croatia game and in an interview after the match with S4C, Wilson said: “We were always confident in the quality we have got in this group and we are 100 per cent behind the manager.
“We know there has been a lot of noise from the outside and some comments that weren’t helpful for us or for our preparation – some were from people we didn’t really expect to make those comments, to be honest.”
Noson enfawr i Gymru a noson enfawr i Rob Page.
Dwy gôl Harry Wilson yn ddigon i Gymru ennill yn erbyn Croatia.Wales beat Croatia in Cardiff and hopes of Euro 2024 qualification are back on!
CYMvCRO @sgorio
— S4C Chwaraeon 🏴 (@S4Cchwaraeon) October 15, 2023
Wales came into the contest knowing victories in their final three group games were probably necessary to secure a top-two place and avoid the play-offs in March.
Page’s side still have to work to do in November – away to Armenia and at home to group leaders Turkey – but upsetting the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists in such fashion offers great encouragement.
This win takes Wales into second place above Croatia by virtue of them having done better in their head-to-head ties, the Dragons having drawn their opening game of the campaign 1-1 in Split in March.
The result will ease the pressure on manager Page, who awoke to newspaper headlines on Saturday morning linking Keane to his job.
🏴 "I can't praise them enough."
Rob Page is a proud man right now. #BBCFootball #Wales pic.twitter.com/ucTqAcxuLU
— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) October 15, 2023
Page vowed he would shut out all external noise at his pre-match press conference in which he became visibly emotional, and that chatter will now surely dim after this result.
Fulham star Wilson added: “It was a big night for me, personally, to represent my country 50 times.
“It’s something I never could have dreamed of, so I’m super proud of that.
“But tonight wasn’t about me, it was about the team.
“We watched the Croatia game on Thursday night and the result went against us. We knew we had to produce something special tonight and thankfully we have done that.
🗣️ “It’s unnecessary noise coming into it and it’s like we’re having to fight fires.”
All doesn’t seem well between Rob Page and FA Wales CEO Noel Mooney. 🏴👀 pic.twitter.com/AMb2zKohGA
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 16, 2023