New generation stars leave Wales on brink of another major tournament
The postGareth Bale era looked particularly daunting for Wales.
After all, how could a principality with a population of 3 million really replace its best ever player, a Real Madrid great, once the most expensive signing in football history? Maybe they needn’t have worried.
With Bale having retired after the World Cup in Qatar and another stalwart,
Aaron Ramsey, on his last legs, the Welsh needed a new generation to emerge and blossom — and that’s what has happened.
On Tuesday, a youthful Wales will look to reach a third straight European Championship tournament when Robert Lewandowski and Poland visit Cardiff City Stadium in one of three playoff finals.
Tellingly, it would be the first time this century that
Wales secured qualification for a major tournament without Bale, for so
long the team’s inspiration.
“It would be just as good as the others, better in some ways,” said Wales captain Ben Davies, the old head of the team at age 30. “We don’t have Gareth Bale this time. That’s a big loss for Wales. But that doesn’t mean there’s a different feeling within the camp. We are more than confident with the squad we’ve got.”
That was shown in the way Wales swept past Finland with a 41 win in the playoff semifinals on
Thursday to set up that allornothing encounter with the Poles. Among the scorers was David Brooks, a midfield playmaker just recently given the allclear after cancer treatment; Brennan Johnson, a forward who is just starting to establish himself at Tottenham, one of the top teams in the Premier League; and Dan James, a winger who is rebuilding his career at secondtier leader Leeds after a brief spell at Manchester United.
“We’re in a different position because we’ve got a younger squad, a fitter squad, we’ve got players who are playing regularly,” Wales coach Page said.
The age profile of Wales’ squad must excite its fans. Central midfielder Jordan James, 19, is highly rated and plays for secondtier Birmingham. Johnson is only 22 and joined Spurs for more than $60 million last year. Harry Wilson, 26, is starting to blossom at Fulham. Then there’s Lewis Koumas, an 18yearold who scored on his debut for Liverpool last month and isn’t in Page’s squad yet.
Wales has had many bigname players down the years — Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes, Neville Southall and most recently Bale — but not necessarily the backup to support them. With this latest crop, it might prove to be the opposite.