Coleman: This one’s a must-win
Like a poker player knowing his hand of cards is pivotal to cashing the loot, Chris Coleman declared himself ‘all in’ for victory over Austria and dismissed any talk he might walk from the table empty pocketed.
After five successive draws — four of them after Wales had taken the lead — Coleman is only thinking about how winning in Cardiff tonight would propel his team back into contention for next year’s World Cup and not the alternative: of defeat leaving his job on the line.
Coleman maintains he has no regrets about revealing this campaign would be his last immediately after guiding Wales to the semi-finals of euro 2016 and seems to be revelling in the high stakes. Wales are four points behind joint Group D leaders Republic of ireland and Serbia, with four games left. ‘i can’t think anything else other than we’re going to Russia,’ said Cole- man (below). ‘ i’m positive. i think we’re in a good place. We need a big result and a big performance in this first game, forget the next three. i’m all in, i’m still manager of Wales. No excuses, let’s go and do the job. it can’t go wrong, it has to go right. i’m not saying if this happens, i’ll do this, or if that happens, i’ll do that. i think we’ll take it to the wire, i really believe that.’
On his decision to step down after this campaign, Coleman added: ‘i was honest and i do miss the day-to-day work. i go to games at the weekend and i’m a bit envious watching other managers. The trade-off i have is i’m manager of Wales. Watching the boys singing the national anthem in Cardiff and the atmosphere, i’m there fronting that. To think someone could be standing there doing it instead of me leaves a real bad taste. Hence why i can’t think past Austria, i thrive on that.’
Gareth Bale is back for Wales after the Real Madrid forward missed June’s draw in Serbia, but Joe Allen and Neil Taylor are suspended. Captain Ashley Williams said: ‘it’s quite simple — we must win. We think if we can win this we can have the momentum we’ve missed a little in this campaign. i think it changed after the draw in Serbia, it felt like the start.’
Williams, Ben Davies, Joe Ledley, Aaron Ramsey, and Jazz Richards are all a booking away from a one-match ban.