The prince of Wales
BALE TAKES DRAGONS TO THE BRINK OF QUALIFICATION:
GARETH BALE’S brilliant bullet header fired Wales to the brink of a place at Euro 2016 and their first major tournament in 58 years.
Chris Coleman’s side now know victory against Israel in Cardiff on Sunday will seal their spot at next summer’s tournament in France.
The Real Madrid forward’s 81stminute goal, his sixth i n this campaign, sealed the win over Cyprus after a Dave Edwards effort was disallowed before the break.
Yet, the prospect of qualifying for a first major tournament since 1958 had caused the nerves to show in a tentative performance.
Wales’ passing repeatedly went awry and Cyprus, ranked 77 places below Chris Coleman’s side, showed enough mettle to deserve a point.
Then, nine minutes from time, Bale showed up. He flew through the air to connect full-heartedly with a right-wing cross by Ashley Richards. Seconds l ater, he sprinted into a huddle with a throng of Wales players and staff, the significance clear. Wales have one foot in the door of Euro 2016.
‘It was a tough game but we were able to nick a goal that has put us in a great position,’ said Bale afterwards. ‘We knew the task coming into this game, we know what we have to do and we know what our capabilities are.’
Bale had actually been having a sub-par game, but once again he produced when it mattered.
Wales have found things tough on this island previously. In three past meetings, Cyprus have won twice, in 2005 and 2007, and succumbed only 1- 0 in a 1993 World Cup qualifier.
Last night was initially more of the same, although this owed a lot to a poor Welsh performance. The humidity was likely a factor. Even at 9.45pm local time, the match was played in 28 degrees heat.
Yet Coleman has instilled steel in his team and rarely are they beaten because their defence is so solid. Wales have not conceded now for the past 414 minutes.
Coleman had been preparing for this match since the glorious win over Belgium in June, which catapulted Wales up the FIFA rankings to ninth and into top pot for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
By a quirk of the calculations, that victory also sent Coleman’s side above England after historic results were discounted. Whether that says more about Wales or FIFA’s system, time will tell.
But as ever in international management, plans best laid for months can be disrupted in a flash. Already missing Joe Allen through suspension, midfielder Joe Ledley was ruled out hours before kick-off through a hamstring injury.
In came Edwards, the Wolves player, starting his first international since 2012.
James Chester missed out through his own hamstring problems and instead of bringing in James Collins, Coleman elected to keep faith with Jazz Richards, who performed admirably against Eden Hazard in the last match.
Wales came flying out the blocks and created two clear openings within 10 minutes. In the sixth minute, Bale ran with the ball from midway and fed Aaron Ramsey by the edge of the area. The Arsenal player ignored Bale’s overlapping run to cut inside and shoot, but his curling effort skimmed the roof of the net.
Then, four minutes later, a Bale free-kick struck the legs of keeper Antonis Giorgallides and the ball bounced to Neil Taylor, who hit the rebound straight at the Cyprus No 1 and the hosts survived.
The Welsh should have gone ahead in the 27th minute when Taylor’s deep cross was picked up by Bale on the right wing and he whipped an inswinging centre that Edwards rose to head home. But referee Szymon Marciniak saw centre-half Kostas Laifis on the floor and ruled that Hal RobsonKanu was guilty of a push. In truth, the Reading forward jumped fairly and the referee’s call was cruel on the visitors.
As it was, the sides went in level at the interval and less than a minute after the restart Cyprus finally tested Wayne Hennessey, who looked less convincing than might be hoped. Marios Nikolaou took a punt from 30 yards and Hennessey blocked with his knees in rather awkward fashion.
Georgios Economides then hit a shot over as Wales struggled to retain possession.
The stage was to be set for Bale, however, and as usual he did not disappoint.
Delighted Coleman said: ‘It was always going to be difficult — the pitch was woeful, it was hot and humid and the opposition had nothing to lose.
‘ Expectations were on us. It certainly wasn’t one of our better performances, but it is a huge three points. There was a lot of pressure on us and the players handled it magnificently.’