Cymru’s dream of making it to a second World Cup in a row came crashing down in brutal fashion after losing to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties.

The Cardiff City Stadium was put through a rollercoaster of emotions as a stunning Dan James volley put the home side one goal up, only to be cancelled out by an Edin Dzeko header in the 86th minute.

Craig Bellamy left little to the imagination of what to expect going into the biggest game of his managerial career.

The Wales boss demanded more ruthless attacking football from his side, reflective of their performance against North Macedonia in November.

But they were facing a formidable Bosnian side who would match their attacking output, with a strong defence that only conceded five goals across their European qualifying campaign.

After 30 minutes of extra time controlled more-so by Wales, nothing could separate the two sides, and the game progressed to penalties.

It was an ideal start for Wales as Karl Darlow denied Ermedin Demirovic’s opening penalty.

But it was misses from Brennan Johnson and Neco Williams that saw Kerim Alajbegovic’s penalty win the shootout for Bosnia and send the away fans into a frenzy.

Many of these young players in the early stages of their international career can recall qualifying for the Qatar World Cup, like captain Ethan Ampadu.

But the heartbreak of this game will be all too familiar with their qualifying campaign for the 2024 Euros where they lost by one penalty to Poland in the finals.

That result was a few months prior to Bellamy’s appointment, and since then he seemed to have steered this team in a new direction with strong ideals of the identity and style that he wants his team to play with.

The style that they employed in the latter stages of the game, absorbing pressure and seeing the game out, was not part of Bellamy’s plan though.

He said: “Over the last number of games, we’ve been able to stay calm. But we had that little spell where we tried to see it out and it allowed them to get more players into our box.

“If there was any learning from [the result] it would definitely be that period. When the heat comes we have to be even calmer.

“It got chaotic, and that is what we don’t want with this team. They are drilled for chaos, and we let that creep in for 20 minutes and tried to see it out. We’re not built that way. We don’t play that way.”

The young squad will have more opportunities to qualify for major tournaments in the future.

But for Bellamy as a manager, these opportunities could be few and far between and, depending on whatever transpires over the next few months, he may be haunted by this golden opportunity.

It is easy to forget that his 19 games as Cymru boss are his first and only in his young managerial career.

This might attract interest from other employers over the summer as Wales can only watch from the sidelines. But the ex-winger has his sights firmly set on what he can still achieve with his Welsh side.

He said: “To get back-to-back World Cups was really our target, and we didn’t get there.

“But this is going to keep getting better. I believe this team will keep improving, I only see a bright future.

“If I was playing, imagine being able to look forward to what’s coming up.

“It’s hard to think about, but it makes me even more determined. I’ll be thinking about how we go again and improve. There will be a solution.”

As the manager of the country that he represented 78 times as a player, Bellamy clearly has no interest other than focusing on delivering success for Wales despite the shortcomings of the European qualifiers.

With more time in the role, and more experience as a manager it will become apparent how far he really can take Cymru.

---

If you want to read more pieces from Sportin Wales, why not read to our monthly magazine here or subscribe to the magazine and newsletter at https://sportin.wales/subscribe/.

Our podcast is back for the new season and our co-founder Alex Cuthbert is in charge! You can find all the episodes here or the video versions on our YouTube channel.

You can also keep track of our pieces and videos on our socials at @Sportin_Wales on X or Sportin Wales on Instagram and Facebook.