Azerbijan 0 Wales 2Euro 2004 qualifier: An eerie choking fog swirled dark and ominously as the visiting players left the field with their arms aloft, but there were no clouds on Wales' horizon. The Azeri have gone the same way as the Azzurri; the startling renaissance in Welsh football is gathering pace.
Mark Hughes arrives back in Cardiff today with his side five points clear at the top of a once daunting Group Nine, peering down at the already beaten Italians and the much fancied Yugoslavs.
Where once they might have crumbled to ignominious defeat - Moldova, Belarus and Georgia have all proved too strong in the past decade - Wales, patched up but polished, prospered against a side ranked 50 places below their 61st place in FIFA's world list.
Victory in the return fixture during March, when Italy play Finland, could stretch Wales' lead to seven points with four games to play and would certainly establish a best-ever run of eight unbeaten matches.
"We came here under a bit of a cloud, with big players left behind, but my lads have come of age tonight," said Hughes, who was without eight injured regulars. "There is no fear in this squad, just a determination to go places. I'm proud of every one of them. They were immense, outstanding."
None was more so than Gary Speed. Returned to central midfield, the Newcastle man's tireless endeavour - all feverish tackling yet calm and classy in possession - freed up his less experienced team-mates and, an early storm weathered, ensured Wales' busy invention was rewarded.
"He drives the team on and inspired those around him," Hughes added. "That was a captain's performance."
When Speed, unmarked between Ilham Yadullayev and Tarlan Akhmedov, rose to hammer a header from Simon Davies' corner beyond Djahangir Hasanzade in the ninth minute, Wales might already have led. Darren Barnard had sent John Hartson away down the left and he barged beyond Aslan Kerimov, leaving Akhmedov in a sheepish mess on the byline, and pulled the ball back for the unmarked Ryan Giggs to belt a shot at goal. It forced Hasanzade to save and Giggs' follow-up was deflected wide. Speed made amends from the corner with his fifth international goal, albeit his first in two years.
There should have been more by half-time, with Hartson shooting against the crossbar after Speed had unsettled Hasanzade and forced him to paw at another Davies corner. As it was, it took a free-kick from the Spurs midfielder, headed down and in by Hartson from inside the six-yard box, to double the lead and spare Hughes late anxiety.
Not that much anxiety was ever likely. The Azeri remain pointless, goalless and hopeless at the foot, with their domestic league a shambles and their supporters increasingly disillusioned.
The team had whipped up a predictable nerve-jangling start, however, with Mahmud Gurbanov's midfield scurrying briefly perturbing his markers. But the burst, fuelled by adrenalin, yielded only Samir Aliyev's scuffed attempt, which was deflected wide of the diving Paul Jones's left-hand post.
By the time Aliyev sprinted on to Rashad Sadigov's pass and had his shot suffocated by the advancing Jones, Azerbaijan were already trailing. And, when Farukh Ismaylov sprung the offside trap but had a vicious attempt well saved at his near post by Jones, the deficit had been doubled.
"I was more worried going into this match than I ever was about the Italy game," added Hughes, who had kept his players on British time in a bid to nullify the four-hour difference. Their sprightly display suggested that tactic, like most of his others, had worked.
"But my side are improving with every match they play. Their resilience is outstanding. It's now a case of just ticking the games off. We've had the best possible start: there may be anxious moments ahead but we can go close, I'm sure of that."
AZERBAIJAN: Hasanzadekh, Neftaliyev, Kerimov (Fizuli Mamedov 46), Akhmedov (Asadov 75), Imamaliyev, Yadullaev, Makhmud Gurbanov (Farukh Ismaylov 61), Sadygov, Gurban Gurbanov, Vasilyev, Aliyev. Subs Not Used: Magomedov, Ruslan Musayev, Gambarov, Azer Mamedov. Booked: Sadygov, Farukh Ismaylov.
WALES: Paul Jones, Delaney (Weston 71), Melville, Page, Barnard, Davies, Speed, Carl Robinson (Trollope 90), Giggs, Hartson, Earnshaw (Neil Roberts 90). Subs Not Used: Crossley, Evans, Thomas, Williams. Booked: Page, Barnard. Goals: Speed 9, Hartson 68.
Referee: Luc Huyghe (Belgium).
