‘This victory is greatest result in our history’
Captain Bale says reaching World Cup finals is pinnacle Page promises his side will attack their group in Qatar
Gareth Bale described Wales’s emotional victory over Ukraine as the greatest result in Welsh football history and joked that their place at this year’s World Cup had forced him to postpone his retirement, at least “for a little bit”.
There had been suggestions that Bale could bring an end to his career if Wales had not made it to the tournament in Qatar, but he played another starring role for his country by forcing Andriy Yarmolenko’s decisive own goal in Cardiff.
The victory confirmed Wales’s place at their first World Cup finals since 1958 and Bale said qualification for the tournament represented the “last piece of the jigsaw” for this generation of players.
“The result is the greatest in Welsh football history,” Bale said. “It means everything. It is what dreams are made of and we have been working towards it since I first came in here. Words cannot describe how we feel at the moment.
“It is an incredible achievement and it will be something that we will forever be proud of. It is the last piece of the jigsaw that we all wanted, and we are going to celebrate well tonight.”
Asked if it could be categorically said that he was now postponing his retirement, Bale laughed and replied: “For a little bit.”
Wales manager Rob Page dedicated the victory to the late Gary Speed, who did so much to transform the national side before he took his own life in 2011.
“Gary Speed started this 12 or 13 years ago,” Page said. “I want to dedicate this to Gary. He started the culture. There was a difference, there was a change. The environment completely changed. I’ve inherited that, Chris Coleman took it on and took it to another level, and I’ve inherited that group.
“I’m so proud of these boys. They thoroughly deserved that. The one thing they needed was a World Cup and they’ve got it.”
Page described the win as the best moment of his career and also promised that his players would attack their World Cup group, which includes England, Iran and the United States.
“The England game is the mouthwatering fixture,” said Page, whose contract as Wales manager will now be extended until the end of the tournament. “You look at the other teams [in the group] and think we will roll up our sleeves and have a go. We will be full of confidence.”
Page reserved special praise for goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey, who produced a sensational individual performance as Ukraine pushed for an equaliser. Ukraine’s nine shots on target were the most by a team without scoring in any European qualifying game for this year’s World Cup.
“He was magnificent, world class,” Page said of his keeper. “He went to another level tonight and his performance was outstanding.”
Some of Ukraine’s devastated players were left in tears at the final whistle, and afterwards their manager, Oleksandr Petrakov, spoke movingly about the need for continued international support in their fight against Russia.
“You know what is happening in Ukraine,” Petrakov said. “We have war raging all over the country. We have children and women dying on a daily basis, our infrastructure being ruined by Russian barbarians.
“The Russians want to hurt us but Ukrainians are defending their land. We just want your support, we want your understanding of what is happening at home. God forbid you will ever understand what we feel inside.”