Wales have qualified for their first Fifa World Cup since 1958 and will hope reaching Qatar ushers in a new era for the country, so will want to avoid matching these Scotland records.
Robert Page led the Dragons to victory over Ukraine in their UEFA Path A final after an own goal by Andriy Yarmolenko on June 5. The winger inadvertently headed Gareth Bale’s free-kick into his own net for the only goal of the contest after wrongfooting Heorhiy Bushchan.
Ukraine had eliminated Scotland from the play-offs with a 3-1 win at Hampden Park three days before heading to Cardiff. Yarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk had put the Blue and Yellow two goals up in Glasgow, before Artem Dovbyk struck off Callum McGregor’s reply.
Wales set new record for longest gap between qualifying for World Cup finals
Wales will now face England, the United States and Iran in the group stage after qualifying for the World Cup. They have faced the Three Lions on 103 occasions previously across all competitions, winning 14, the USA twice without winning and beat Iran in their only game.
The Dragons’ last appearance at a World Cup finals in Sweden 64 years ago saw them face the host nation, Hungary and Mexico during the group stage. Wales would finish second to Sweden for a quarter-final encounter with Brazil, who would go on to win the tournament.
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A 64 year absence between World Cup appearances has seen Wales set the new record for the longest gap yet. Page will now hope to take the Dragons past the group stage to usher in a new era for the country, and avoid potentially matching these records Scotland hold…
Scotland hold record for joint-most eliminations in first round at World Cup
Wales will hope the Qatar World Cup marks a positive start to a new era for competing in the finals. They will also hope to avoid exiting the competition at the first hurdle, and start to match Scotland’s unwanted record of the most first round knockouts with South Korea.
The Tartan Army have bowed out of the World Cup during the opening round in all eight of their appearances at a finals. South Korea, on the other hand, have progressed beyond the first round in 2002, finishing fourth as joint-hosts, and in the last 16 at South Africa 2010.
Scotland hold joint-record for most consecutive eliminations in first round
No other nation than Scotland have featured at the World Cup finals eight times without progressing past the first round. Their run of five consecutive eliminations between 1974 and 1990 also sees the Tartan Army share the record of the most first round exits in a row.
Mexico have likewise bowed out of five finals in the first round consecutively from 1950 to 1966. El Tri snapped their run by reaching the quarter-finals at the 1970 edition as the host nation. It was also Mexico’s first run past the groups after an early exit at the 1930 edition.
Wales will hope to avoid repeating some England records at Qatar World Cup
Wales will also hope to avoid repeating some of England’s records during their appearance at the World Cup in Qatar. The Three Lions with Belgium share the record for the highest-scoring draw after playing out a 4-4 stalemate, albeit after extra-time, in the group stage.
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The Soviet Union also drew 4-4 with Colombia without extra-time during the group stage of the 1962 edition. It proved to be Colombia’s only point at the tournament held in Chile as they finished bottom of Group 1. The Soviet Union edged Yugoslavia to finish in first.
England also hold the record for being eliminated from the most World Cups without any defeats in regular time. The Three Lions dropped out in 1982 following two draws, plus the 1990 and 2006 tournaments on penalties against West Germany and Portugal respectively.
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