Best defeat of my life, says Bale as Wales qualify

LONDON: Wales celebrated reaching their first major tournament for 57 years when they sealed their place in next year’s Euro 2016 finals in France despite losing 2-0 to Bosnia in their penultimate Group B qualifier on Saturday.

While Belgium’s players were also elated after reaching the finals with a 4-1 win in Andorra and the Italians were beaming as they made sure of their spot with a 3-1 win in Azerbaijan, that was nothing compared to the Welsh celebrations in Zenica.

Despite losing on the night, the Wales players dived in unison, cheered, hugged and jumped for joy with the several hundred travelling fans, all of them forgetting decades of failure after a long sought-after success.

Wales’ only other appearance at a major finals was in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden and their setback in Bosnia was best summed up by Wales skipper Gareth Bale.

“It’s the best defeat of my life!” the world’s most expensive player exclaimed, after learning that Israel’s 2-1 home defeat by Cyprus meant they were through.

“It was a difficult game but we have done it and everyone is very happy,” added the Real Madrid forward.

“This is right up there in my career. It was a dream from when I was a small child to play in a major tournament. It doesn’t stop here, we have business to do in France.”

Bosnia substitute Milan Djuric scored the first and set up the second for striker Vedad Ibisevic as they maintained their chance of a play-off place.

Belgium leapfrogged Wales into first place with their win taking them to 20 points followed by Wales on 18, Bosnia 14, Israel 13 and Cyprus 12.

Italy went through after their 3-1 win in a Group H match in Azerbaijan and 11 countries have now booked their places alongside hosts France.

As well as Wales, Belgium and Italy, Iceland, the Czech Republic, England, Portugal, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Austria and Spain are all through.

And following Saturday’s matches, the Netherlands, Turkey, Bosnia, Israel, Cyprus, Norway and Croatia are either in contention for second place or a play-off berth.

The Dutch, who have not missed a Euro finals since 1984, kept their play-off chances alive with a 2-1 win in Kazakhstan. – Reuters CHAD SCORED just after halftime to shock Sierra Leone 1-0 as 2018 World Cup qualifying continued in Africa at the weekend.

Central African Republic, forced to play a home game against Madagascar in Antananarivo because of violence in Bangui, suffered a predictable 3-0 loss.

Making a rare international appearance, Eritrea fell 2-0 at home against far higher ranked Botswana.

Winger Leger Djimrangar struck on 47 minutes to bring the Chadians success in N’Djamena over opponents 54 places higher in the world rankings.

The home team had gone into the game under a cloud after a 5-1 drubbing by Egypt at the same ground last month