Wales vs Iceland

Equipped with the possibility to secure the first or the last position in the four team table, Wales will play their last UEFA Nations League Group stage encounter on Tuesday in the Cardiff City Stadium against Iceland in the League B Group 4.

Belgium’s side is ranked second in the section though defeated Turkey goalless in the match of the penultimate round, but their visitors reduced the margin to two points by defeating Montenegro 2-0 .

Saying goodbye to the Irish luck the Welsh luck was on during Satruday’s match with Turkey in Kaysiri, Kerem Akturkoglu who plays for Benfica was ready to bring the Crescent-Stars the win after a free kick penalty kick in the last 1 minute and 9 seconds.

But the Turkish winger’s penalty was a high pressure one which hit the post sending Cardiff and the country into euphoria; if Akturkoglu’s penalty had gone in, then turkey would already be planning for the next stage in the League A in the 2026-27 campaign.

In any case, a win for second placed Wales would see them move above the Crescent-Stars to take the playoff place and top spot if the Crescent-Stars fail to beat Iceland on the same day or lose to Vincenzo Montella’s side in either encounter; a win for the Crescent-Stars meanwhile would see them secure the playoffs place depending on the outcome of the Wales – Montenegro tie.

This would be enough to place the Dragons into a promotion playoff against the third team in League A next spring; however, Akturkoglu’s horror show from the penalty spot means that Wales is still unbeaten in the current Nations League campaign.

However, the hosts are still searching for plausible solutions to their incurable ‘offensive crises’; the previous Saturday’s match was the fifth time of eight league fixtures where they were never able to score and for the last 720 minutes of the footballing action, the poor goal tally of four goals indicates that the hosts now score a goal every two matches.

Wales is in control of their destiny, but Iceland is also in control of theirs; if they defeat the Dragons in Cardiff, they will finish third at worst and will have the chance to compete for top-tier status in the playoffs the following year.

In the first 70 minutes of their match against Montenegro, Age Hareide's team was unable to discover the formula for attacking success. However, two late goals from Orri Oskarsson and Isak Bergmann Johannesson were sufficient to get Tuesday's visitors across the finish line in Niksic.

Our Boys, who played in League A in 2018–19 and 2020–21, will finish the 2024–25 season having accomplished something they have never done before: winning a UEFA Nations League game, regardless of what happens on the last matchday.

In fact, the Nordic country did not win a single game in the tournament's first three iterations. They drew all four of their 2022–2023 matches and were able to maintain their League B standing as a result of Russia's expulsion.

In their first Nations League meeting of the season in October, the stalemate experts similarly rallied from a two-goal deficit to hold Wales to an incredible 2-2 draw, but it extended their winless streak against the Dragons to five games since a 1984 World Cup qualifying victory.
Ben Davies is currently nine caps short of reaching the 100-cap milestone in a Wales jersey, while Rodon's Leeds United teammate Karl Darlow should hold Danny Ward at bay in goal.

Due to a string of yellow cards, left-back Logi Tomasson will miss this match for the visitors, and captain Aron Gunnarsson was forced to leave the game during the first half of the victory over Montenegro because of what appeared to be a thigh injury.

Victor Palsson should play defense this week, and the 35-year-old, who was a Cardiff veteran from 2011 to 2019, might be cruelly denied the opportunity to play at his old home.

Hareide now has a problem in the engine room after Johannesson's goal off the bench on Saturday. The 21-year-old might now challenge Stefan Teitur Thordarson's spot, but Andri Gudjohnsen, the son of former Chelsea and Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnsen, should stay up top.