Wales national football team

The Wales national football team is the team that represents the country of Wales in international competition and is controlled by the Football Association of Wales. Wales has qualified for four FIFA World Cups with their best result being a fourth at the 1934 FIFA World Cup.

Formation
The first instance of a Welsh national team match was back in 1876 when they took on Scotland at Hamilton Crescent. Their first match against a much more experience team would end up with a three-nil defeat. During a five year time frame, they would mainly take on Scotland but would have their first matches against and. In 1884, they would join the other British teams to compete in the British Home Championship with the tournament running until 1948 when it would be discontinued.

It would be until 1906 when they would compete against a team outside of the British Isles when they were invited to compete at the 1906 FIFA World Cup which was held in France. Being featured in a group that also had and. After only just scraping through for a 1-0 win off a back of a goal from, the Welsh struggled as they went down 2-0 to Argentina. Argentina again would be the nemesis in the following World Cup in Austria as they lost to a hat-trick despite winning the two previous Home Championships leading up to this tournament.

The performance at that World Cup meant they would create history by being one of eight teams in compete in the new qualification format for the 1914 FIFA World Cup that was being held across the border in England. Taking on Scotland in the qualifier at the in Wrexham, the Welsh attempted to try and turn over the match from earlier in that year where they had lost 1-0 at the 1913 British Home Championship. Despite a crowd of 10,000 people, the Welsh was eliminated by a goal from in the 69th minute.

After the war
After the first World War, Wales didn't compete in the first three tournaments back with them mainly focusing on the British Home Championship at the time as they won the first edition back after the war. The Welsh would stay consist through the early-mid 1920s which would lead to a qualification for the 1926 FIFA World Cup after finishing second in the group behind. This meant that they were drawn in a group which featured (who was on debut), Scotland and  who was the host nation. After a 2-1 loss to Scotland, and  both scored a goal in the 2-0 victory. In the final match, Wales would draw with Brazil after a late goal from in the 86th minute ended the shot for Wales.

As part of the discussions with the Dominion of Canada Football Association as well as the other British FA's brought football at the British Empire Games as it would become the first and to date only team sport in the games. Though in the first tournament, they would only get the one solid win against who were traveling through Canada at the time. After the tournament, a second place finish at the 1931 British Championship gave them confidence to do well at the 1933 WEFF Championship qualifiers which was the first stage towards the 1934 FIFA World Cup which was being held in Italy. With the top two nations going to the main tournament, they would finish top by goal average to. This meant that they were put into a group with the, and. After a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in the opening game, they would get a win over Italy and Luxembourg to again finish top of their group. Taking on Belgium, in the semi-final, a late goal from got the Welsh through to the World Cup.

Being drawn in Group A with Brazil, Netherlands and, the Welsh surprised everyone in their first game when they defeated the world no.1 nation at the time in the Netherlands by a single goal from. The Welsh would than follow it by a 1-1 draw against Brazil before defeating Mexico 3-1 with three different goalscorers. This meant that Wales qualified through to the knockout stage as the runner-up from Group A. Their next opponent was which the Welsh defeated them 2-1 as goals from O'Callaghan and  meant that Wales was the first team in twenty years to qualify from a British nation. Though their dream would end in the semi-finals with losses to France and Brazil meant that they would finish in fourth place.

FIFA World Cup
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