Wales suffered heartbreak in their first-ever penalty shoot-out as Poland booked their place at Euro 2024 after a goalless 120 minutes.
Spot-kicks were needed on a tense evening in which Ben Davies had a first-half header disallowed for offside but chances were scarce in this play-off final.
Wales were reduced to 10 in the final seconds as Chris Mepham was banished for a second yellow card and Cardiff City Stadium held its breath following an impromptu rendition of the national anthem.
Poland converted five perfect penalties with Robert Lewandowski, Sebastian Szymanski, Przemyslaw Frankowski, Nicola Zalewski and Krzysztof Piątek successful against Danny Ward.
Wales matched them as Ben Davies, Kieffer Moore – via the underside of the crossbar – Harry Wilson and Neco Williams scored.
But Daniel James saw his effort pushed out by Wojciech Szczesny as Wales lost 5-4 on penalties and wild Polish celebrations began.
It was a cruel end for the hosts who had given everything to qualify for a third consecutive European Championship.
Wales had beaten the visitors only once – a maiden meeting in 1974 World Cup qualifying – and suffered seven defeats in 10 games, including six successive losses.
A great battle. Powodzenia for EURO 2024, @LaczyNasPilka 🤝 pic.twitter.com/6RlJc77hcI
— Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) March 26, 2024
They also had to nullify the threat of Lewandowski with the 35-year-old striker in rich scoring form for Barcelona and seeking to add to his record 82 Poland goals.
Wales made one alteration from Thursday’s 4-1 semi-final thumping of Finland, with Moore replacing David Brooks in the forward line.
Poland were unchanged from the side that put five past Estonia in their Warsaw semi-final but Aston Villa’s Matty Cash was missing from the substitutes’ bench after damaging a hamstring.
South Wales Police had promised a zero-tolerance approach to anyone attempting to take pyrotechnics into Cardiff City Stadium after Poland’s previous visit in September 2022.
But the Polish end was lit up with flares as the two teams gathered for the pre-match anthems.
Poland sought to take the sting out of a fever-pitched atmosphere by frustrating Wales with their ball possession.
Karol Swiderski narrowly failed to get on the end of a Bartosz Slisz cross and Jakub Piotrowski fired over from 25 yards as Poland settled quickly.
Wales’ best moments were from set-pieces: Davies heading over a Wilson corner and Moore planting another chance wide.
Moore also came close to being the beneficiary of Joe Rodon’s flick-on from a Connor Roberts long throw but ran out of room by the byline.
Wales had edged their way back into the contest as the interval approached and had the ball in the net in the final moments of the half.
Poland book their place at #EURO2024 🇵🇱💪 pic.twitter.com/kAvr70AYCC
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) March 26, 2024
Moore met Williams’ cross at the far post and Davies guided his knockdown beyond Szczesny in the Poland goal.
The assistant referee’s flag cut short Welsh joy and VAR showed it was a correct call with Davies offside by a matter of inches.
Wales did manage the first on-target effort four minutes after the restart when Szczesny superbly clawed away Moore’s header from under his crossbar.
It looked as if Poland were wobbling but composure was rediscovered and crosses began to be swung into the Wales penalty area with increasing regularity.
Jakub Kiwior cleared the crossbar from six yards and Swiderski sent Piotr Zielinski’s free-kick wide.
The tension was also palpable as Szczesny held headers from Moore and Mepham and Lewandowski almost prevented extra time by fizzing just wide from 25 yards.
Piotrowski and Szymanski had openings in an additional 30 minutes that Poland dominated, but Ward did not have a single save to make in the entire match.
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