When Moldova came to Wales

It was going to be the day TNS made history. Perennial Welsh champions, the village team was potentially a win away from securing UEFA group stage action . True, the Saints had to recover a 0-1 first-leg deficit after losing to Petrocub in Moldova last week. But hopes were high that, at last, a Welsh team might break into the group stage of European competition for the first time ever.

Among the fans, there were memories. Tilts at bigger name European opposition – Liverpool, Ludogorets, Anderlecht, Hacken, Helsingor, Banik Ostrava. Distant days when winning a even single game seemed out of reach, until finally success started to come. An impressive collection of pennants over the bar at the Park Hall stadium in Oswestry tells the tale. Almost untouchable at home, the next step for TNS is surely to start achieving on the continent.

This is European football, and the start of a story that ended last season with Atalanta winning the cup and booking a place in tomorrow’s glamourous Super Cup final against Real Madrid. However, it has more in common with the early rounds of the FA Cup. Teams of unknowns, representing countries that are long departed when the prizes are awarded, scrap among themselves for a tilt at the big boys. In domestic competition, it often brings keenly contested battles, full of thud-and-blunder, a raucous contrast to the precise possession football de rigeur among the elite.

Here, though, things were different. TNS had to chase the game and dominated possession to an astonishing degree. The home team had 61% of the ball but mustered just one shot on target. At times it felt like you could award the Saints a penalty and they’d still look to pass the ball rather than test Silviu Smalenea in the Petrocub goal.

The visitor, meanwhile, despite a noisy contingent of UK-based Moldovan fans, was content to soak up pressure and launch an occasional counter. Niggly, skilled in game management, adept at easing the pressure by drawing an opponent into a foul and breaking up play. It wasn’t great to watch and it saw five players booked plus another sent off. The Saints’ patience was sorely tried, as was that of any neutral spectators. But in Moldova, the end justifies the means.

That Petrocub sending off, Dan Puscas getting a second yellow in first-half stoppage time, effectively killed the game as a contest. Five minutes earlier, a VAR review led to a red card for home forward Jordan Williams and seemed to open the door for Petrocub to go after the goal that would surely put the tie beyond reach. Instead, it was back to slamming the cage door shut. 10v10 did not bring extra space, nor more frequent chances. A goalless draw looked inevitable long before the end.

Not that the Moldovan support much cared for aesthetics. Amid cries of “Hej! Moldova!” the flags were flying. After the final whistle there were warm embraces between players and supporters. On a night that was supposed to be the realisation of a Welsh dream, Petrocub advanced to the Europa League playoff and is assured of group stage European football for the first time in its history. Even defeat to Bulgaria’s Ludogorets in that playoff will secure a spot in the European Conference League – the culmination of a European qualification process that, at times, resembles a tired parent trying to count a toddler out of a tantrum: “four-and-a-half, four-and-three-quarters, four-and-nine-tenths, please don’t make me actually say ‘no’!”

For TNS, too, the story is still alive. The Welsh club faces a Conference playoff and victory there would seal a group-stage spot. But as the rain lashed down on Oswestry, it was hard to shake the sense that the Saints’ best chance was gurgling down the drains.

Aug. 13, 2024. Europa League qualifying round 3

Park Hall, Oswestry

TNS 0 Petrocub 0