One down, one to go. Wales are 90 minutes away from qualifying for a third successive major tournament and will reach Euro 2024 if they beat Poland on Wednesday.
Yet this match was as much an indictment of UEFA’s bloated 24-team tournament as it was a celebration of Rob Page and his players.
These days it seems harder to miss international competitions than to get to them and some of the football featured here – particularly that of Finland – proves it.
Goals from David Brooks, Neco Williams, Brennan Johnson and substitute Dan James were enough to see Wales through to meet Robert Lewandowski and company here on Tuesday, but how can a team as poor as Finland be so close to reaching the final leaves you incredulous.
They briefly gave themselves a chance when Teemu Pukki scored just before half-time, but wasted it by conceding the third less than two minutes after the break.
David Brooks gave Wales the perfect start by scoring the opening goal in the third minute.
The midfielder volleyed in on the rebound after Harry Wilson’s shot was saved by the keeper.
Your browser does not support iframes.
Aside from Teemu Pukki, Glen Kamara and Nikolai Alho, the Finns looked no better than a League One team. By freeing up places during qualifying and the Nations League, UEFA risks devaluing its elite tournament.
Consider this: Wales finished third in their group behind Turkey and Croatia, but entered the play-offs on the back of their Nations League performances and earned a home draw against Markku Kanerva’s toughs.
Poland is a much tougher proposition, but if Wales qualify it won’t be through the back door so much as through the garden door and out the cat flap.
Not that Wales cares. Even without Gareth Bale, who retired after his dismal performance at the last World Cup, Page can count on a number of talented players who have more than enough to put Finland aside.
And in front of the Cardiff crowd, you’d be brave to take on them by eliminating Poland too. The home fans were in superb voice here, delivering all the old hits to create an atmosphere that would intimidate teams better than Finland – and there are certainly plenty of those.
Welsh fans are used to being put to the test by their team, but this time they took the lead almost immediately. Harry Wilson played a one-two with Ethan Ampadu and although Lukas Hradecky pushed his shot away, the ball fell perfectly for Brooks to volley into an unguarded net.
With Brooks, Wilson and Brennan Johnson among the mobile front three, Wales were most effective in breaking down the Finns, who lacked the imagination on the ball to trouble their hosts.
Neco Williams doubled Wales’ lead with a magnificent curling free-kick in the 38th minute.
Finland were handed a lifeline when Teemu Pukki calmly finished shortly before the break
Yet Wales occasionally became disconnected in defence. Daniel Hakans volleyed Nikolai Ahlo’s knockdown and Pukki was allowed to run onto a simple ball over the top from Robert Ivanov, only to direct his effort too close to Danny Ward.
Shortly before the half-hour mark, Hakans trampled the ball while he was in a good position and Joel Pohjanpalo’s throw was blocked.
At the other end, Harry Wilson saw a 30-yard effort pushed away before Chris Mepham’s misplaced pass fell straight to Pukki, who was unable to take advantage.
Moments later, Wales were two up. Johnson was brought down on the edge of the area, Wilson set up Williams for the free-kick and the Nottingham Forest man found the top corner.
Wales must have already felt they had one foot in the play-off final, but they were soon bracing themselves for a difficult second half.
Pohjanpalo converted Ahlo’s pass into the path of Pukki and the former Norwich man slipped the ball past Ward to bring his team back into the game.
However, the locals’ nerves calmed down barely a minute into the second half. Wilson’s free kick was returned across goal by Ethan Ampadu and although Brooks made a kicking error, Johnson was played in and tapped in from two yards out.
Having restored their two-goal lead, Wales knew there would be plenty of space at the break and Wilson could have scored a fourth shortly after Kieffer Moore replaced Brooks up front.
The Fulham man drifted onto his left foot and narrowly missed the target from 20 yards. The visitors were starting to get frustrated and Hakans was booked for a clean dive as he attempted to provoke a foul from Joe Rodon.
Brennan Johnson restored the two-goal advantage by scoring 90 seconds into the second half.
Ben Davies headed home for Wales but was ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
Substitute Dan James added a late fourth to his 50th cap to seal an impressive victory.
Then, Moore could have put the game to bed but shot too close to Hradecky in the corner.
Despite having plenty of height at the back, Finland were strangely vulnerable from set pieces and this proved again in the 80th minute when Hradecky put both hands on Davies’ head but failed to could prevent him from crossing the line.
The Finns were spared embarrassment when the goal was disallowed for a foul after a VAR check, but that was never going to change the result.
And sure enough, the fourth came when James stole a trailing Miro Tenho, bypassed Hradecky and headed home.