By Harry Corish
Gemma Grainger insists Wales still have plenty of hard work ahead of them before they reach their goal of World Cup qualification.
The national team manager felt Wales deserved their play-off place after a goalless draw with Slovenia saw them through to next month’s knockout stage.
Wales had to survive some scares on a nervy night at the Cardiff City Stadium but, in the end, Grainger’s side managed the game superbly to book their play-off spot.
But now comes a complicated and awkward route to the finals in Australia and New Zealand next year.
Grainger will attend Friday’s play-off draw in Switzerland. The ties will consist of a semi-final and final, each one leg, to be played on October 6 and October 11.
Wales will be involved in the first round of semi-final games with five other sides.
The three teams with the best qualifying records will be waiting for the three victorious semi-finalists at the final stage.
DIOLCH! ❤️
1⃣2⃣,7⃣4⃣1⃣ at Cardiff City Stadium – a record attendance for a Cymru women’s international in Wales! 👏#BeFootball | #TogetherStronger pic.twitter.com/c5iRh2g2MM
— Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) September 6, 2022
Based on performances in qualifying, the three top seeded teams – Iceland, Republic of Ireland and Switzerland – are given a bye to the final, while the remaining six teams will be entered into the semi-final draw.
Wales and Scotland will be entered into the semi-final draw. The other teams in the draw are Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Portugal.
Wales and Scotland could be drawn home or away and could play each other.
The three winning semi-finalists will play one of Iceland, Republic of Ireland or Switzerland in the final.
From the three final winners, the two highest seeded teams will qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The third seeded side will be entered into an Inter-Confederation Play-Off, which will take place in New Zealand in February 2023.
“We don’t have a preference who we play,” said Grainger.
🏴 @Cymru got the point they needed. History created. #BeFootball | #TogetherStronger
— FA WALES (@FAWales) September 6, 2022
“One of the mistakes that teams can make in qualification campaigns is talk about things before they happen.
“But you can see when we play friendly games we play against higher-ranked opposition because that’s who we want to face.
“We know that we want to be a tournament team and we want to put in performances like we did tonight.
“From last September (the opening qualifier against Kazakhstan) we’ve built gradually, and we want to keep doing.”
Wales started slowly with Slovenia skipper Mateja Zver twice going close to silencing a record 12,741 home crowd.
Gemma Grainger was all smiles after tonight’s result! 🤩#BBCFootball
— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) September 6, 2022
But skipper Sophie Ingle and Carrie Jones had first-half chances and Wales were on top by the break.
The pattern continued in the second half and Jones had a strong penalty appeal turned down before Gemma Evans’ close-range header was pushed away by Slovenia goalkeeper Zala Mersnik.
Grainger said: “I’m so happy for the players. That performance they put in, they deserve everything they got.
“We wanted to deliver the game plan and they did that. I knew from the moment the players arrived at the stadium the levels of concentration they had.
“That they executed that is the next step for us as a team.”
We said the bucket hats would make an appearance WHEN we get that playoff spot!!
An incredible achievement. A huge congratulations to every player and staff member you deserve this moment 🏴 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/HPCeu0VUA1— Katie Sherwood (@KatieSherwood8) September 6, 2022
“I think in the first 20 minutes we took time to settle, it was the same for Slovenia. But we grew into the game and by the end of the first half I think our plan was clear.
“We’ve created some very good chances, but ultimately we wanted to get a clean sheet and that’s what we’ve done.
“Overall, I felt we had the better chances and managed the game well, and our objective has been met.”
