Harry Wilson celebrated his 50th cap with a brilliant double as Wales boosted their Euro 2024 automatic qualification hopes with a 2-1 win over Croatia in Cardiff.
Wilson rewarded an excellent home performance with two clinical second-half strikes, enough to stave off a late Croatia rally that saw Mario Pasalic convert 15 minutes from time.
Wales came into the contest knowing victories in their final three group games were probably necessary to secure a top-two place and avoid the play-offs in March.
Rob Page’s side still have to work to do in November – away to Armenia and at home to group leaders Turkey – but upsetting the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists in such fashion offers great encouragement.
This win takes Wales into second place above Croatia by virtue of them having done better in their head-to-head ties, the Dragons having drawn their opening game of the campaign 1-1 in Split in March.
The result will ease the pressure on manager Rob Page, who awoke to newspaper headlines on Saturday morning linking Roy Keane to his job.
Page vowed he would shut out all external noise at his pre-match press conference in which he became visibly emotional, and that chatter will now surely dim after this result.
Victory in Latvia last month had boosted Wales, but Aaron Ramsey and Brennan Johnson had picked up injuries and were replaced by David Brooks, a scoring substitute in Riga, and Kieffer Moore.
Ben Davies took over the captaincy in Ramsey’s absence as Wilson won his landmark cap, exactly a decade on from becoming Wales’ youngest-ever player at the age of 16 years and 207 days.
History was against Wales with no wins in seven games against Croatia and the visitors were smarting from Thursday’s 1-0 loss to Turkey – their first-ever home defeat in European Championship qualification.
Croatia made three changes from that shock defeat but their midfield triumvirate of Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic – the heartbeat of this ‘Golden Generation’ – remained in tact.
Wales started on the front foot but the pattern of the game soon developed with Croatia dominating possession and the hosts seeking to spring swift counter-attacks.
Wilson almost profited from one such raid after Brooks had tricked Josko Gvardiol in the build-up. The ball just run away from Wilson, who could not connect with enough power and Domagoj Vida blocked.
A period of Croatia keep-ball ended with Josip Juranovic crossing and Petar Musa heading over, but it was a rare moment of concern for Wales who were gaining in confidence.
Ethan Ampadu picked out Brooks after 21 minutes and his feather-like touch and pass freed Wilson through the middle.
Wilson was brought down in full flow by Vida, with the close attendance of Gvardiol preventing the yellow card from turning to red.
Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic tipped away Wilson’s resulting free-kick and was also equal to Neco Williams’ curling effort after the wing-back had cut inside on his right foot,
Gvardiol’s intervention was also needed to deny Connor Roberts after Wilson’s clever back-heel had created space.
Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic made three changes at half-time, a sign that he was unimpressed with his side’s first-half performance.
But Wales struck within two minutes of the restart as the visitors failed to cope with Danny Ward’s punt forward.
The ball came off a Croatia player under pressure from Moore and Brooks volleyed the ball on.
Wilson took it in his stride and outpaced Vida to chip the ball over the stranded Livakovic for his seventh Wales goal.
The lead was doubled after 60 minutes as Daniel James, having replaced Brooks three minutes earlier, swung over a cross that Wilson glanced beyond Livakovic into the corner of the net.
Croatia rose from their slumber with Ward saving from substitute Dion Drena Beljo, the ball turned inches around the post.
Modric’s resulting corner glanced off the head of Moore for Pasalic to pounce from close range, but Wales held on for a famous victory against the world’s sixth-ranked team.
Kane gunning for Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record
Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record after scoring twice in Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though he knows he needs "to get a move on".
Kane scored in both halves on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, also reaching the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.
The striker scored 280 of those goals for Tottenham, holding the honour of being the club's all-time leading scorer, while he is also the most prolific player in England history with 62 goals for the Three Lions.
With 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, Kane now has his eyes set on another piece of history.
Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski holds the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga campaign, netting 41 times in 2020-21.
Asked about the possibility of breaking that record with just three games remaining in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on!
"I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance.
"It depends on the last few games of course, but it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."
Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face Stuttgart on Saturday.
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
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