CARDIFF (Reuters) -Substitute Dan James celebrated his 50th cap with a fine second-half solo goal as Wales trounced Finland 4-1 in Cardiff on Thursday to set up a playoff final with Poland for a place at Euro 2024.
A leaping David Brooks got the hosts off to a dream start in the third minute of the Path A semi-final at the City Stadium when Harry Wilson's shot was saved and rebounded to him for the knock-in.
Neco Williams made it 2-0 in the 38th when he blasted the ball into the top corner off a backheeled free kick by Wilson on the edge of the box, but Finland pulled one back with Teemu Pukki's 40th international goal on the stroke of halftime.
Brennan Johnson restored the two-goal cushion from close-range in the 47th, after Ethan Ampadu headed on from a free kick, and stand-in captain Ben Davies had a fourth ruled out by VAR in the 79th.
James, who had come in the 73rd minute for Johnson, then made it 4-1 in the 86th when he sprinted clear, dribbled around goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky and slotted the ball into an open goal.
Wales will play Poland, who beat a 10-man Estonia 5-1, at the same Cardiff stadium on Tuesday for a place in the June and July finals in Germany.
"It could have been five or six," manager Rob Page told S4C television. "It goes to show how far we’ve come, but the message is: it’s half time. We have a massive effort to go again on Tuesday, we can’t wait.
"Dan James was fantastic, on his 50th cap, he got the goal he deserved. It goes to show the confidence he's got. We've got players coming off the bench full of confidence... you can really see it in the performance."
Wales qualified for the 2022 World Cup finals through the playoffs and are on the cusp of reaching their third successive euros and first since the retirement of talismanic winger Gareth Bale.
Finland, who lost their last away game against Wales 3-1 in November 2020, had hoped to qualify for their second major tournament after Euro 2020.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Clare Fallon and Pritha Sarkar)
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