The Daily Telegraph writes that even Hennessey himself, as soon as the referee decided to check with VAR about his clash with Mehdi Taremi, was under no illusions that it was the end of the match for him and almost certainly the end of the tournament.

See also: What an end! Iran beat Wales on goal in added time

“Ultimately, that quickly became true for his entire squad. It’s now hard to see a way to stay in the tournament for Wales who have never lacked desire but quality throughout this Chaotic encounter with Iran Yes, Hennessey’s moment Recklessness proved fatal But no, Wales weren’t heading for victory until Hennessey came off their line and kicked kicking Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi with his leg instead of the ball.

He adds that the likely elimination from the tournament in Qatar also means saying goodbye to the national team of an entire hugely successful generation of Welsh footballers. “Players of the Hennessey generation, including his best friend Gareth Bale, have grown accustomed to exceeding expectations and remaining immune to the normal realities of sport. Here, those realities have finally caught up with them. Players can only stay in ahead of time and ignore physiology until the grade finally gets too steep and the task is too big.

‘The Times’ stresses that it cannot be said that the two goals scored by Iran after a red card for the Welsh goalkeeper were undeserved. He recalls that an Iranian goal was disallowed for offside, the Iranians hit the two posts seconds after the break and Hennessey made a brilliant save before being sent off.

“They said Wales couldn’t play as badly as they did against the USA. It turned out they were wrong. Rob Page was right in thinking that Iran had largely ignored the game against Wales. England to focus on the next two games Bale and Aaron Ramsey’s fitness levels have proven justified, and there will be questions over how long they and others will play if the team are indeed knocked out the next week.

As he adds, none of the Welsh players stood out and the team only created one good chance throughout the game when Kieffer Moore’s shot was saved. “A draw would give them a chance to move on, but now they will have to beat England on Tuesday and hope for different results. That seems unlikely.”

“That’s not how Wales viewed their first World Cup since 1958. For a long time it looked like they could avoid defeat in what became the epitome of playing on the brink before Wayne Hennessey being sent off in the 86th minute for inadvertently crashing into Mehdi Taremi, who was recalling Harald Schumacher knocking out Patrick Battiston at the World Cup in Spain in 1982. Football emotions can turn at any time for any player, and for Hennessey, the pain of a mistake will surely be as great as the joy he felt in June, when he produced a phenomenal performance in a play-off against Ukraine.

RM, PAP

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