When many people outside of Europe are asked 'Where is Wales?' one of the overriding answers will be 'Isn’t it in England?' This could be for a number of reasons, one of which could be the general anonymity that Wales have suffered from most particularly in football in their history. A single appearance in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, where they reached the Quarter-finals has been accompanied by a long list of failures to qualify.
However, this perception of Wales is changing fast. Wales have shot up the World rankings in recent years, coming from 117th in 2011 to number eight. This meteoric rise has coincided with qualifying for their first major tournament in over half a century.
So how has this scenario for Wales materialised? It would only have appeared in the wildest dreams of the most foolhardy Welsh fan four years ago and yet now planes, trains and the Channel tunnel will be filled with Welsh fans come next summer’s European Championships in France. The first influence that must be discussed is the Gareth Bale factor. The Real Madrid forward has endured a testing start to his Spanish career. Scoring the winning goal in the 2013/14 Copa del Rey against Barcelona and his header which put Real 2-1 up against city rivals Atletico Madrid on the way to a 4-1 win in the Champions League final in the same season was seemingly not enough for many fans that doubted his talent and ability, choosing to solely back Cristiano Ronaldo instead of both of them.
However with Wales, Bale seems to have his freedom and enjoyment back in abundance. Seven goals in the European Qualifiers helped book Wales’ place in France in 2016 and his leadership qualities have been integral for Wales.
The fact he is not playing second string to anyone in the Welsh team is surely one of the overriding reasons why Bale has flourished for Wales. Instead of constantly being compared to Ronaldo, scrutinised when he wastes a chance and chastised when a pass goes awry, he has been able to play his own game. He can pick his head up when he chooses and try to find a pass or go on one of his blistering runs and whatever happens, goal or miss, the team and fans still applaud. The difference in atmosphere compared to the Bernabeu must be enormous. Instead of playing with the tag of the World’s most expensive player at Madrid, he plays with the tag of Wales’ talisman. Mentally, this must be an enormous relief for Bale.
It is often forgotten that alongside Bale there are a number of other Premier League players including Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal, Joe Allen of Liverpool, Swansea’s Ashley Williams and Crystal Palaces’ Wayne Hennessey. In recent times Wales have been unable to surround their best players with appropriate talent such as in the case of Ryan Giggs who is one of Wales’ greatest ever players but was unable to represent Wales at a major tournament.
So, talismanic forward, check. A team of supportive talent being built around said talisman, check. Appropriate manager? Chris Coleman was instilled in 2012 after the tragic passing of Gary Speed and has continued the good work started by Speed. Coleman is perhaps best known for managing Fulham between 2003-2007. But his reputation has expanded exponentially as he leads Wales to their first major tournament in over 50 years.
Coleman seems to have instilled a philosophy of football which works for the Welsh team. After completing their 10 qualifying games they had conceded a miserly four goals, bettered only by Romania (2), Spain and England (3). Alongside this strong defensive frame, has been the afore mentioned growth of Bale.
However, questions still remain around Wales. First, how will their defence line up against the best? Whilst the achievement of Wales qualifying cannot be underestimated, especially from such a tough group, how will they fare against the more free scoring teams like Germany and Spain? Especially at a major tournament, something which will be entirely novel for this Welsh side, it will be interesting to see how Wales react to going a goal down in a must win game. Will they be gung-ho and go all-out attack? In this case, especially against a team like Germany, the Germans would likely soak up Wales’ pressure, counter-attack and score.
So could their inexperience at a major tournament come back to hurt them? If it were to happen and Wales were knocked out in the group-stage then it will of course be a sobering experience for player and fan, but it would be one that they learn a lot from. This experience cannot be gained in the year leading up to a tournament though and so Wales will have to hope the big game experience of, in particular, Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey will guide them through.
The second and most important question is where would Wales be without Bale? Their top goal-scorer in qualifying and the go to man when they are trailing or they have won a free kick outside the opposition’s box. But what if he were to sustain an injury just before, or during the tournament? Who would step up? Ramsey? Robson-Kanu? Vokes? This is a question which can only be answered if Bale is unable to play and every Welshman will be crossing their fingers come the end of the 2015/16 season.
So the question is, how far can Wales go? There was talk of, if results went their way, they could rise into the top three in World football. This didn’t quite materialise, but their meteoric rise into the top bracket of World football is surely enough for Welsh fans, who are probably still dizzy from their lightning fast rise. A place above neighbours and rivals England in the rankings has secured their bragging rights for now and they will feel that they can upset any team especially after their record of one win and one draw against Belgium in qualifying.
Time and a lenient draw for the group-stage will tell as to where Wales will finish in the Euros in France. But if they were able to progress from the group-stage who is to say they can’t upset a few of the established superpowers? It wouldn’t take long to find a good example of an underdog over-performing in the record books a la Greece in the 2004 European Championships as they defied the odds to win the tournament.
The old saying ‘only time will tell’ will definitely apply as many attempt to pick out the tournament winners before a ball has been kicked and often end up looking foolish as their team is evicted in the group stage. However, Wales will be quietly confident of a good showing in the tournament and who’s to say they can’t take a few scalps on their way through to what will be an incredibly important qualifying stage for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Source: DSG
