Tottenham defender Ben Davies has been praised by the media for his display as Wales booked their place at the 2022 World Cup with a 1-0 win over Ukraine.
The Dragons qualified for the tournament for the first time since 1958 courtesy of Gareth Bale’s deflected free-kick, which was redirected in by Andriy Yarmolenko.
Rob Page’s side were required to dig deep in Cardiff and had to rely on their defence on plenty of occasions to keep out an onslaught of Ukraine attacks.
Davies in particular was kept busy in the second and was forced into a number of blocks and last-ditch tackles to preserve his side’s slender lead.
The Spurs man’s inch perfect performance in central defence was enough to earn him a 10/10 rating from Welsh publication Wales Online, who labelled the display ‘fearless’.
They wrote: “Just so calm and composed. A colossus. Won every tackle, every aerial duel, perhaps won his side the game too. Last-ditch intervention to keep out Tsygankov was superb. The fearless leader of a defence under intense Ukraine pressure.”
With a trip to Qatar secured, Davies and Wales will now be preparing for the group stage as they join England, Iran and USA in Group B. Their opening match is set to be against USA on November 21 at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan (Independent).
Spurs Web Opinion
Davies has been so good for Spurs since Antonio Conte came into the club and he managed to carry over that form into the World Cup play-off.
His display was so good and he was a big reason why Wales were able to keep hold of that precious lead, even when they were up against the intense Ukraine pressure.
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