Leeds United’s Welsh quartet endured a heart-breaking evening against Poland last night with their hopes of qualifying for this summer’s EUROs now over.
The two sides could not be separated after 120 minutes of football and so the game came down to a penalty shootout, in which Leeds attacker Dan James was the unfortunate man to miss.
All of the nine of the first spot-kicks were scored and so James was tasked with stepping up as Wales’ fifth taker to keep them in it, but unfortunately saw his effort saved by ‘keeper Wojciech Szczesny.
From a Leeds perspective, Daniel Farke could not really have envisaged a worse evening for his Welshman, as both Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu played 120 minutes, Connor Roberts went off injured, and James, of course, will be feeling gutted about his part in the defeat.
However, all four of them can certainly be proud of the performances they produced on the night, with James even having to cover at wing-back for Roberts when he went off injured.
Wales lost a lot of his attacking impetus when he was forced to move back, particularly when you consider how effective he was from the bench against Finland on Thursday.
Welsh media deliver verdict on James performance after penalty miss
Wales certainly created enough chances to win the game in 90 minutes and on another night, it could’ve easily been them securing their passage to the EUROs.
Wales Online delivered their verdict on James’ performance in their post-match player ratings piece and were actually full of praise for how he played after coming on.
They wrote: “Dan James – 6. Looked sharp after coming on, but then had to quickly convert to right wing-back after Roberts’ injury. Carried out the task manfully. Made a wonderful tackle late on in extra time. Missed that crucial spot kick.”
It is certainly going to take some time to get over the manner in which Wales lost last night but hopefully James can use it as motivation to bounce back at club level, having been full of such confidence prior to the game.
He may not be going to the EUROs this summer, but it would be some silver lining if he was able to play a big part in Leeds bouncing back to the Premier League.
Leeds need to rally around James now
Unfortunately, James will not have too much time to dissect what happened last night as he is already back in action for Leeds on Friday.
Leeds and Farke will need to rally around him in the next 24 hours or so to ensure he is fully ready to switch his focus back towards the task in hand of promotion.
James has come off the bench in most of the last few games since returning from injurybut could be needed from the start at Watford if Georginio Rutter is not fit.
There would be no better way to put his missed penalty to the back of his mind by starting at Vicarage Road, delivering a good performance and getting himself on the scoresheet.