Crystal Palace midfielder Anna Filbey will be hoping to help Wales take another step towards the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 when they face Bosnia and Herzegovina in Cardiff this evening.
The Red Dragons could be as little as 180 minutes of football away from a first appearance in a FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament finals. Gemma Grainger’s side must defeat Bosnia and Herzegovina in their play-off semi-final this evening before taking on Switzerland in a final match in the current stage on Tuesday.
Crystal Palace midfielder Filbey spoke with FAWSL Full-Time last week and she hopes that Wales can go the extra mile in creating new history in the coming days.
“We can’t wait,” Filbey said. “As you know, it is the furthest that we have ever been getting to a play-off. Hopefully, we can go the extra mile and get to a tournament.
“It is the biggest honour going playing for your country and I cannot wait for it.”
Wales were backed by a record crowd of 12,741 as they drew 0-0 with Slovenia in Cardiff a month ago. The fans were unbelievable that night and Filbey is hoping that a similar atmosphere will be generated by a near-15,000 crowd this evening.
She said “Our media team have done excellent selling tickets. We obviously had a record-breaking crowd last game and they’ve done excellent for this one as well.
“The atmosphere was unbelievable as we stood there singing the anthem with so many people there with us, it was a goosebump feeling. That really pushed us on and hopefully, we can have that again.”
Wales’ FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 play-off semi-final against Bosnia and Herzegovina kicks-off at 7.15pm this evening.