Bangkok Post

Wales and N Ireland join the ‘big boys’

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In the 54-year history of the European Championsh­ip, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have never qualified for the finals at the same time.

They still haven’t, but almost managed it this time around with an unpreceden­ted four of the teams making it to Euro 2016 in France, with only Scotland missing out.

It is a particular achievemen­t for Northern Ireland and Wales who had never reached the Euro finals before. With Iceland having also qualified for the first time, there will be a decent representa­tion of internatio­nal “minnows” in next year’s tournament.

The Republic of Ireland were the last of these teams to qualify, with a 2-0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovin­a in the recent play-offs, thanks to a brace from Stoke striker John Walters.

Ireland had come third in a tough group behind Germany and Poland, but their play-off win means they have now qualified for two successive Euro tournament­s. Scotland came fourth in the same group.

One of the most striking images of Ireland’s success came after the match with manager Martin O’Neill hugging his assistant Roy Keane who famously left the Irish 2002 World Cup squad after a blazing row with manager Mick McCarthy.

O’Neill was full of praise for his players, saying: “There is a whole team of heroes out there… I couldn’t be more proud.”

Their most notable success on the way to qualifying was undoubtedl­y beating world champions Germany, who they also held to a draw in the away fixture.

The biggest achievemen­ts, however, were those of Northern Ireland and Wales.

Few Northern Ireland supporters could have imagined that by the end of qualifying their team would be sitting top of Group F, ahead of Romania, Hungary, Finland and Greece. They had earlier suffered a miserable 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign in which manager Michael O’Neill’s side lost to Luxembourg.

They clinched qualificat­ion on a memorable October night at Windsor Park, beating Greece 3-1, even with four key players ruled out through injury.

After the final whistle the overjoyed crowd, known as “The Green and White Army”, refused to leave the stadium and the team had to come out for a series of encores. O’Neill described qualifying as “phenomenal”.

It will be the first time they have competed in a major finals since the 1982 World Cup squad managed by Billy Bingham, a team that included Pat Jennings and Norman Whiteside.

Despite limited resources, Northern Ireland have quite a respectabl­e World Cup record, having reached the quarter-finals twice, in 1958 and 1982.

When they first competed in 1958 they were the least populous country to have ever qualified for the World Cup. (Trinidad & Tobago have since taken over that mantle). They were huge underdogs, reflected by captain Danny Blanchflow­er’s statement before the tournament: “Our tactic is to equalise before the others have scored.”

The 1982 event was particular­ly noticeable in that they beat hosts Spain 1-0 thanks to a Gerry Armstrong goal.

Unfortunat­ely for all football fans, during the George Best era Northern Ireland failed to qualify for any major tournament and we never got to see Best grace the internatio­nal stage at the top level.

Wales, too, had become something of a forgotten force in football. Former Welsh internatio­nal goalkeeper Neville Southall once complained: “Sometimes I think people don’t realise Wales exists as a country.”

Their appearance in France next year will be the first time they have qualified for an internatio­nal football event since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, where they were knocked out by eventual winners Brazil, who included a promising youngster called Pele.

For Euro 2016, Wales came second in their group, behind the powerful Belgium side, pushing BosniaHerz­egovina into third place with Israel fourth.

Much of the Welsh success is undoubtedl­y due to the skills of Real Madrid star Gareth Bale who was involved in eight of his team’s nine goals, scoring six of them himself. But, just like Northern Ireland, it was team work which eventually got them through.

Wales manager Chris Coleman called qualificat­ion “an absolute dream”. They also reached a Fifa world ranking of eighth, the first time they have even been ranked above England.

Over the years Wales have produced a wealth of talented individual stars, but there has never been enough of them at one time to form a consistent team. Some of the best performers in British football have been Welsh — John Charles, Ivor Allchurch, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes, John Toshack, Ryan Giggs and now Bale.

They have certainly had their fair share of unhappy internatio­nal experience­s. When they were thrashed 7-1 by the Netherland­s in 1996, Dutch manager Guus Hiddink commented: “They gave us a difficult game… for five or six minutes.”

Part of being Welsh manager was learning to take setbacks on the chin. When Wales lost 5-1 at home to Slovakia in 2006 a reporter asked manager Toshack whether he realised it was his country’s heaviest home defeat. Toshack replied: “I didn’t, but I’ve broken records all my life, so that’s another one.”

Despite not qualifying, Scottish manager Gordon Strachan remained quite upbeat about his team. “It has been an incredible experience,” he said. “It is a job that makes you so proud.”

England’s comfortabl­e qualificat­ion hardly came as a surprise as they were drawn in a soft group which even they could not mess up. Still, winning every game was quite impressive.

As with the other teams, Roy Hodgson’s players will be keenly awaiting the Dec 12 draw and begin planning the road to glory… or despair.

 ??  ?? Ireland coach Martin O’Neill, centre, hugs his deputy Roy Keane after the second-leg play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovin­a.
Ireland coach Martin O’Neill, centre, hugs his deputy Roy Keane after the second-leg play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovin­a.
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