YES YES: TONIGHT: ' WALES v AUSTRIA '

WALES 2 AUSTRIA 1
H-T 1-0

Both Wales Goals Gareth Bale.

A Sell out weeks ago 33,500 At Cardiff City Stadium.




@GarethBale11 - on the double tonight to take @Cymru through to the World Cup play-off final in June. Amazing night at CCS where everyone played their part. “Yma O Hyd” never meant so much. Summer spectacular on the way! FT2-1





Gareth Bale scored two brilliant goals in a vintage individual performance to take Wales a step closer to qualifying for their first World Cup since 1958 with victory over Austria in their play-off semi-final.



Gareth Bale scored in either half as Wales booked their place in the World Cup play-off final by beating Austria 2-1 in Cardiff.

The Real Madrid star struck a sweet free-kick midway through the first-half before drilling home in the 51st minute to take his international tally of goals to 38. Marcel Sabitzer's deflected strike gave Austria hope in what was a frenetic encounter at Cardiff City Stadium. But Rob Page's men held on to move within one victory of a first World Cup appearance since 1958.

Head coach Page promised his side would be aggressive in their approach to the contest. And his words were reflected in his team selection, with plenty of attackers included in the lineup.









Wales bid to edge one step closer to World Cup qualification on Thursday evening as they host Austria in the play-off semi-finals.





Here's everything you need to know about the crunch contest at Cardiff City Stadium.



What time is Wales v Austria?
Wales v Austria kicks off at 7.45pm on Thursday, March 24.



Yes. S4C will be broadcasting the game live. Their coverage starts at 7.20pm. Sky Sports will also be screening the fixture. Coverage on their Main Event channel begins at 7pm. Alternatively, you can follow live updates on WalesOnline's match blog.






How can I live stream the match?

Sky customers will be able to live stream the action via the Sky Go app, while S4C's streaming service Clic is also showing the game. It is also available on BBC iPlayer.









What is the latest team news?

WALES:
have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the game in Cardiff. Joe Morrell is unavailable due to suspension while David Brooks, Danny Ward, Kieffer Moore and Tyler Roberts all miss out.



AUSTRIA:
Florian Grillitsch, Christopher Trimmel, Philipp Lienhart and Dejan Ljubicic all withdrew from the squad. Kevin Danso, Stefan Ilsanker, Alessandro Schöpf and Andreas Weimann have all since been called up.







What has Rob Page said?

"We've got all the ingredients. We've got a great group of senior lads but also the younger players coming through with quality," he said. "It breeds for success, but if I'm being completely honest we're punching above our weight.

"We thoroughly deserve to be where we're at, playing top teams and in a World Cup play-off semi-final. The lads have earned that right."




#Ad: Wales vs Austria odds with Betfred

Wales - 7/4
Draw - 19/10
Austria - 13/8







Who is the referee?
Szymon Marciniak will take charge of proceedings at Cardiff City Stadium. The Polish official will be assisted by Paweł

Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz. Romanian Ovidiu Haţegan will be the fourth official while Tomasz Kwiatkowski is the video assistant referee.









What is the format of the game?

The semi-final is a single leg contest. It means the game will be decided on the night in Cardiff.

Should the match remain level after 90 minutes, extra-time will be played while a penalty shootout will take place if required.

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Probably the team I'd pick. You can do this lads!!

Probably the team I'd pick. You can do this lads!!

We got a team fair play

Alaba pokes through, but, fortunately, the ball runs through to Hennessey.

Nicolas Seiwald plays a ball over the top towards Arnautovic, but it runs through for a Wales goal-kick.

Roberts is flipping everywhere at the moment. Slips in Ramsey on the right hand side, and his cross causes some panic in the six-yard box before Austria clear.

Moments later, the Burnley man fizzes in a cross of his own, but it's straight into the arms of the keeper.

Excellent first-half by Wales

Should of been 2nil Wales


H-T

Wales 1 Austria 0

Time t take James off

YES:


WALES 2 AUSTRIA 1
H-T 1-0

Are there two Joe Allens ? I thought he was gone looking at him in the flesh for Stoke over the last few seasons. What a performance.....Obviously Bale is on another level but Joe was best of the mortals (IMO)

Gareth Bale scored in either half as Wales booked their place in the World Cup play-off final by beating Austria 2-1 in Cardiff.




The Real Madrid star struck a sweet free-kick midway through the first-half before drilling home in the 51st minute to take his international tally of goals to 38. Marcel Sabitzer's deflected strike gave Austria hope in what was a frenetic encounter at Cardiff City Stadium. But Rob Page's men held on to move within one victory of a first World Cup appearance since 1958.

Head coach Page promised his side would be aggressive in their approach to the contest. And his words were reflected in his team selection, with plenty of attackers included in the lineup.



Harry Wilson, Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey operated in front of a back three, with Neco Williams and Connor Roberts being deployed as wing-backs. It allowed Bale and Daniel James to lead the line against an Austrian side littered with talent.

And it was the visitors who should have gone ahead after just five minutes as Sabitzer played Christoph Baumgartner through on goal, but the Hoffenheim attacker's curling strike cannoned off the top of Wayne Hennessey's crossbar. On his 99th cap, Hennessey had the impressive Williams to thank for getting the faintest of touches on the seemingly goalbound effort.

Page's men looked threatening on the break, and Ramsey was unable to stretch far enough to poke James' cross home moments after Wales survived that major scare. The tension was palpable, although the Red Dragons looked threatening, particularly when Williams got into attacking areas.

Following a brief period of pressure, Wales were presented with the chance to test Heinz Lindner as Wilson was cynically blocked by Baumgartner just outside the Austria box. Enter Bale.

Wales' captain had played just 77 minutes of football for Real Madrid since turning out for his country against Belarus in November, and, as such, the pre-match buildup was all about his ability to hit full throttle in this mammoth encounter. His earlier touches had been rusty, but he produced a moment of magic with his wand of a left boot to send the free-kick crashing into the net off the crossbar. Lindner was helpless, and the Red Wall were ecstatic.

It served as a real tension reliever for the Wales supporters who swiftly went through their full repertoire of songs. Marko Arnautovic threatened to kill their mood after charging through on goal soon after, although his heavy touch allowed Hennessey to pounce on the ball.

Joe Rodon was proving to be a clearing machine, and Wales were happy to remain compact in a bid to frustrate their opponents. They looked devastating on the counter attack as a result and came agonisingly close to doubling their advantage just five minutes before the break after Wilson and James pressed, although goalkeeper Lindner produced a fine save to palm away Ramsey's goalbound effort as the home side took a slender lead into half-time.

Franco Foda's side knew they had to improve, and Arnautovic headed at Hennessey after a decent start to the second-half from the visitors. But they were left stunned just six minutes after the restart following another fine piece of pressing from Wilson and James that earned Wales a corner.

James' cross was perfectly brought under control by Ben Davies before Bale unleashed an unstoppable drive into the net. Bedlam ensued, and the party atmosphere well and truly kicked in.

James should have bulged the net soon after, although he was denied by Lindner with the offside flag already raised. And even when Austria captain David Alaba had the chance to test Hennessey from a free-kick on the edge of the box, Wales' wall stood firm to ensure Hennessey was untroubled.

The game became wide open, and it led to chances at both ends. Bale scuffed his shot over after a swift counter, and Austria hit back in devastating style. Sabitzer's drilled effort took a huge deflection off Davies before looping over Hennessey to offer the travelling supporters hope with 25 minutes left on the clock.

James spurned two golden chance to strengthen Wales' hand as he was thwarted by Heinz before being tackled by Nicolas Seiwald when it looked for all the world to see that he would get a shot away. Bale then hit a free-kick into the wall before Austria dominated the final stages.

And after heroic interventions from Rodon and Davies in injury-time, the sweet sound of the referee's whistle pierced the night sky as Wales extended their unbeaten home run in competitive games to 17 matches to secure a June play-off final against Scotland or Ukraine in the Welsh capital.

Congratulations to Bales on a superb display and a deserved win...

Unbelievable, absolutely bloody unbelievable .

The Spanish press will be loving that in the morning .

@GarethBale11 - on the double tonight to take @Cymru through to the World Cup play-off final in June. Amazing night at CCS where everyone played their part. “Yma O Hyd” never meant so much. Summer spectacular on the way! FT2-1

Gareth Bale scored two brilliant goals in a vintage individual performance to take Wales a step closer to qualifying for their first World Cup since 1958 with victory over Austria in their play-off semi-final.

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Brilliant.

Fair play to Bale. Under immense pressure from the Spanish media and Perez. He found the perfect way to stick two fingers up at them.

What a match, end to end DA IAWN WALES

90 mins away ...If it happens