How Danny Ward proved Rob Page’s was right to put his faith in him

Wales played out a 1-1 draw with Switzerland on Saturday afternoon in their opening EURO 2020 fixture, going behind just after the breakthrough Breel Embolo before an emphatic Kieffer Moore header salvaged a crucial point.

Although the Red Dragons failed to breathe fire going forward for much of the affair, they held firm defensively and limited a potent strikeforce of Embolo and Haris Seferovic to a solitary goal. 

The efforts of Danny Ward proved integral to that.

Prior to the showdown, the goalkeeping berth had been an area of speculation and many viewed it as a real tossup; Wales are fortunate to have two impressive, reliable shot-stoppers in Ward and his more experienced compatriot Wayne Hennesey. 

Both had good claims to man the sticks, with Ward keeping goal and saving a Karim Benzema penalty in a 3-0 friendly defeat to France at the beginning of the month, whereas Hennessey earned his 92nd cap as Wales drew 0-0 to Albania at the Cardiff City Stadium.

But it was Ward who had been given the nod by Page in the sun-soaked Azerbaijan capital – and it turned out to be a thoroughly justified decision in the end.

As the hopes of one of football’s most passionate nations leaned over and tinkering dreams of replicating the euphoria of EURO 2016 emanated, Wales glimmered early on. However, they soon found themselves unable to maintain their influence and in turn, Switzerland imprinted a mark of dominance on proceedings.

With the likes of Remo Freuler and Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka pulling the strings in the midfield, Wales’ opponents were always going to brandish supremacy on the hotly-anticipated possession battle, which allowed them to patiently build-up play before picking out passes in the final third. They did just that. And as they soaked up more and more of the ball, opportunities stacked up.

Despite the clear incompatibility between who had control of the game, Wales did carve out the first real chance of the game with Moore’s header forcing Swiss stopper Yann Sommer into a world-class save. However, barely a few minutes later, the boot was on the other foot and it was Ward’s turn – as it would often be to conjure goalkeeping heroics

Switzerland earned a corner and the move was clearly translated from the training field, as Fabian Schar acted quickly to connect with Xherdan Shaqiri’s fizzing delivery, maneuvering his body excellently and audaciously flicking his effort towards goal.

The Newcastle United defender hadn’t been picked up by the Welsh defenders, who had afforded him far too much precious space and time to try his hand, although Ward reacted swiftly to clear Schar’s shot away with the outstretch of his right leg.

Switzerland continued to pin Wales under the cosh, though to their frustration, they couldn’t convert into clear-cut goalscoring chances and saw a string of stray strikes sail over and wide of the mark through Seferovic. 

After the interval, Ward was called into action once again. Switzerland broke fast; they punted the ball upfield from the heart of defence into Seferovic, who produced a neat flick to his partner Embolo. 

With pace to burn, precise variations of movement, and a direct style encapsulating a tireless desire to drive at Welsh defenders at any given opportunity, the versatile attacker spun the opposite direction and raced past Joe Rodon and Chris Mepham.

Swiss supporters were elevated off their seats, whilst Welsh fans found themselves subdued to nerves and tension. Embolo was through on goal. 

A culmination of a dazzling afternoon looked set to be rewarded before the Welsh keeper pulled off a fine save to tip Embolo’s shot over the bar and briefly keep the scores tied. 

Immediately after, Vladimir Petkovic’s men went ahead from the resulting corner, with Embolo finding the back on 49 minutes. There was nothing that Ward could’ve done there, though.

With 15 minutes to play, Moore headed home from an inviting Joe Morrell delivery to make it 1-1. Spurred on by the subsequent momentum and boost, Wales pushed up and gave their opponents problems, but Ward’s work was not yet done.

After substitute Mario Gravanovic had seen his goal overruled by VAR within a minute of coming on for straying offside, Switzerland earned a corner in the dying embers of the game

 Ricardo Rodriguez, the Torino utility man renowned for his set-piece deliveries, stood over the ball confidently. Sure enough, his left-footed swing was exquisite, finding the head of Embolo as Switzerland desperately searched- and looked to have found an elusive winner.

Ward had other ideas. 

Embolo’s headed effort took a dip as it floated through the air on an ascent to the top-left corner, though Ward tracked the flight of the ball the whole way and palmed it over the ball magnificently to ensure that Wales marked a tough opening fixture with a point to show.

It now seems inevitable, after his stellar showing against Switzerland, that he will retain his place in goal for Wales’ crunch match with Turkey on Wednesday evening. Rightly so.

(Featured Image: Lewis Mitchell)