BALE FORCE CAN STORM TO SEMI
GARETH BALE says Wales have their eyes on at least another semi-final place at Euro 2020 this summer.
The Dragons produced one of the shocks of international football in recent years when they got to the last four in 2016 with Bale at the centre of their efforts.
The Wales skipper said: “We would love to replicate what we did.
“It’s going to be difficult going up against these top nations, but we are confident in our ability.”
But Bale, whose side face Switzerland, Turkey and Italy in Group A, added: “We are realistic. We know it is a different tournament, we are playing different teams and we have a different team to what we had.”
Manager Rob Page sprang a major surprise as he included uncapped Cardiff teenager Rubin Colwill in his 26-man group, after just six Championship games for his club.
Page, who took the midfielder to Wales’ pretournament training camp in Portugal last week, said: “Rubin has been a breath of fresh air. I have known about him for a few weeks, he has played Championship football with Cardiff, I have seen him on a couple of occasions and he has really impressed me.
“He has blown us all away at the camp.”
As expected, Hal Robson-kanu, 32, missed out. The striker, released by West Brom this week, was one of Wales’ stars at Euro 2016, scoring an iconic goal in the quarter-final win over Belgium.
Page said: “It’s not easy, I have had to make some tough decisions.”
Wales face France in their first warm-up game in Nice on Wednesday. They then meet Albania in Cardiff on Saturday before opening their campaign against Switzerland in Baku on June 12.