Sheffield United: Duo only 90 minutes away from making World Cup history
Sheffield United’s Rhys Norrington-Davies and Adam Davies are 90 minutes away from appearing at this year’s World Cup finals after Wales advanced to the final qualifying round following a 2-1 victory over Austria.
Norrington-Davies and Davies were both unused substitutes as Robert Page, the former United defender, guided his country to victory at Cardiff City Stadium.
Wales, who have not reached the finals of the competition since 1958, will now face either Ukraine or Scotland for the right to reach the tournament proper in Qatar.
Chelsea’s Ethan Ampadu, who spent last season at Bramall Lane, started the match which saw Gareth Bale score twice before Marcel Sabitzer pulled one back for the visitors with a deflected strike. Ampadu is now representing Venezia, after agreeing a temporary move to the Serie A outfit.
“They thoroughly deserve all the plaudits they’re going to get, those players,” Page said. “They are an unbelievable group of men.”
Defender Norrington-Davies and Davies, the former Stoke City goalkeeper, could both feature when Wales face the Czech Republic in a friendly next week before returning to United.
Although they have all been omitted from recent squads, United’s John Fleck, Oli McBurnie and Oliver Burke, now on loan at Millwall, will be hopeful of forcing themselves back into Steve Clarke’s plans should Scotland advance past Andriy Pyatov’s team.
Their meeting has been postponed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. FIFA, the world governing body, are hopeful it can be rescheduled for June, with the winner travelling to the Welsh capital later that month.
