QUALIFIERS Is Bale’s destiny never to grace game’s greatest stage?
SERGIO AGUERO has given Manchester City a huge boost by returning to light training just 12 days after suffering a broken rib in a car crash.
It was feared Aguero, right, could be out for six weeks after the taxi he was travelling in hit a lamp-post in Amsterdam on September 28. He has been told to avoid any contact as he regains his fitness. A DEPRESSING thought will have crossed Gareth Bale’s mind as he sat frustrated and powerless in the stands watching Wales’ World Cup heartbreak.
The Real Madrid star, who held the status of the world’s most expensive player for three years, looks destined to join an illustrious group who never had the chance to parade their skills on the biggest stage of all.
George Best, Eric Cantona and Bale’s compatriot Ryan Giggs all ended their careers frustrated by not playing in football’s most prestigious international tournament.
Best’s top-flight career had long since petered out by the time Billy Bingham led Northern Ireland to the 1982 World Cup finals, and he had retired by the time they went to the 1986 tournament.
Cantona’s only chance went when David Ginola’s stray cross – he was described as a “criminal” by boss Gerard Houllier at the time – led to a late Bulgaria winner and cost France their place at the 1994 World Cup. The Manchester United maverick had hung up his boots by the time France lifted the trophy in Paris four years later.
It was a similar tale for Giggs, whose best chance was also in the autumn of 1993 when Paul Bodin’s missed penalty and a late Romania winner at the old Arms Park cost Wales a place in the USA. Denis Law made it, eventually, REPORTS with Scotland in 1974 but the 1964 European footballer of the year was well past his pomp and played just one game against Zaire before retiring after the tournament.
Now, after Welsh hopes were crushed by James McClean’s winner for the Republic of Ireland on Monday, Bale looks to have missed out on his best chance of playing at the highest level.
He will be only 32 when the controversial Qatar 2022 event comes round – certainly not too old to play, but he is likely to be past his peak, especially when his poor injury record is taken into account. And that is if Wales can qualify. The most pressing question is whether they will have a squad of the same calibre as the current one – who reached the semifinals of Euro 2016 – capable of ending their hoodoo and reaching a World Cup finals for the first time since 1958.
What will have made the loss even more painful for Bale was that he could do nothing to help his team-mates after being sidelined by the latest in a worrying succession of calf injuries that have cast doubt on his future in Madrid.
With three Champions League triumphs in the past four seasons, Bale is already Britain’s most successful footballing export, and yet he seems under greater pressure at Real than ever before.
Isco exploited an ankle injury sustained by Bale to move ahead of the Welshman in the pecking order last season, and 21-year-old Marco Asensio’s emergence as the new darling of Spanish football has further complicated matters. Bale managed to play just 19 games in
La Liga last term as Real took the title, and has started only four times in the league this season.
He reminded everyone of his quality with a sublime volley on his last outing as Real beat Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, but then succumbed to the 11th calf injury of his time in Spain – which could rule him out of the forthcoming back-to-back clashes with former club Tottenham.
His injury woes and his failure to properly grasp the Spanish language has led to a deteriorating relationship with Madrid’s fans, despite his goals in the Copa Del Rey and Champions League finals making him a hero in his first season at the Bernabeu. Bale has received public backing from manager Zinedine Zidane and his teammates and is said to be a favourite of Madrid president Florentino Perez.
The word from Spain, however, is that this could be his last season at the Bernabeu – something that will interest Jose Mourinho, who made no secret of his desire to take the forward to Manchester United when the two clubs met in the Super Cup in August.
With club and country, Bale’s career appears to have reached a crossroads.