HAL’S THE STAR TURN!
Striker conjures up a moment of magic as jubilant Wales go marching into semis
NOBODY will ever call Wales a one-man team after this. Gareth Bale? He was one of a number on this, the greatest night in the history of Welsh football. Most importantly, he will have been happy to be so.
For this wasn’t about him. It was about all of them. About Hal Robson-Kanu, the striker not considered good enough for Reading, who scored one of the finest goals of the tournament, embodying the spirit of none other than Johan Cryuff as he did.
It was about Sam Vokes, who hadn’t scored a competitive goal for Wales since 2008 against Azerbaijan, yet clinched this game with a header Belgium’s giants would have killed to score.
It was about mighty men like Ashley Williams, battered but unbowed, refusing to be invalided out of the biggest game of his life.
And it was about Aaron Ramsey, playing arguably his best game for his country, but now banned for Wednesday’s semi-final with Portugal after a second booking of the tournament, for handball — a colossal loss.
And yes, it was about the manager, Chris Coleman. What a tournament he has had.
The spirit Coleman has engendered in this Wales team is exceptional, the way they went about earning this victory is everything every nation aspires to. Character, resilience, confidence, courage, game management — and no little skill.
THEY went 1-0 down after 13 minutes and came raging back into the game. They were at their most dangerous when Belgium were in the ascendancy. Tactically and psychologically, Coleman has marshalled this group like no other at the tournament. He is working with what would be perceived as inferior materials, yet has turned them into collective gold. Belgium are second only to Argentina in the FIFA rankings, yet equally, they were second best here. It is Coleman who is doing the impossible job.
Portugal are next up, and if Wales go in as underdogs again, that is only because the loss of Ramsey and defender Ben Davies to suspension might be considered too great a blow.
Ramsey was the man of the match here — setting up two goals, but everywhere in midfield, his shock of peroxide hair appearing, not flash, but the calling card of a player determined to stand out at this tournament.
And he has, eclipsing even Bale in influence in some games, and certainly last night. Not that Bale was disappointing. He was just well watched, well accounted for — but that in itself is a contribution. It means other players are left alone, are given space — as Williams was for the first goal, as Ramsey was when creating the second.
It will have come as a surprise to those who blame lethargy at tournaments on the absence of a winter break to see this, arguably the most exhilarating game so far. Of the 22 players who started, 15 are based in England, yet there was little sign of fatigue on either side, until Wales drained Belgium of life with their second-half supremacy.
Belgium were outstanding from the off in both halves and deservedly went ahead, but Wales responded magnificently, got a goal back, forged more chances, got in front and then pulled away with the third, which settled it.
Indeed, far from sitting back and soaking up pressure as many expected, Wales were as comfortable having the ball as chasing it. When the possession statistics flashed up on the board late in the first half, Wales had 55 per cent. As with Iceland, it is patronising to suggest they are a team without attacking ambition.
With three of Belgium’s firstchoice defenders missing, coach Marc Wilmots had decided attack was the best option and from one move alone, Belgium spurned three chances to score. Yannick Carrasco at the far post was kept out by Wayne Hennessey, Thomas Meunier by Neil Taylor and then Eden Hazard by a combination of the two. Hazard then swung in the corner which Romelu Lukaku failed to meet at the far post, unmarked. It was not his only error of a disappointing night.
In the 13th minute, Belgium took the lead. Joe Allen gave the ball away in midfield, Jordan Lukaku went down the wing, found Hazard inside and he slipped the ball into the path of Radja Nainggolan.
It was a goal almost as soon as it left his boot, Hennessey getting no more than fingertips to the ball and with no chance of altering the trajectory.
Wales could have crumbled — but Coleman’s team are made of sterner stuff. From that reverse, they carved their best early chance, and an eventual equaliser.
Ramsey cut back from the right by-line, Taylor shot first time but Thibaut Courtois somehow got a hand there as he recovered his position across goal.
Five minutes later, Wales equalised. It looked like a rolling maul in the centre of the area before Ramsey’s corner came in, but that was all part of the diversionary plan. When the smoke cleared, there was captain Williams, unmarked. Former Celtic defender Jason Denayer recognised the danger, but too late, and Williams gave Courtois no chance with his header.
Missed chances cost Belgium dearly. Hennessey’s fingertips took the ball from Romelu Lukaku’s head at a vital moment and the Everton man missed two more before Hazard cut inside and curled a shot just wide of the far post.
The crowd at the Stade Pierre Mauroy, predominantly Belgian having popped over the border, must have felt a goal was bound to come. It did, but not in the way they imagined.
We expected Cruyff-like skills at this tournament, just not from Robson-Kanu. The Wales striker doesn’t even have a club right now. Released by Reading, there have been no takers so far. There will be after this. The greatest goal in Welsh history put his team on the way to the semi-final in their first tournament since 1958. One off the shin would have sufficed, yet the quality was as huge as the significance.
Robson-Kanu executed a Cruyff turn in the penalty area of such perfection that Meunier needed his passport to get back into the country. It is a short trip to Belgium and Meunier and several team-mates were well on the way before they realised Robson-Kanu had changed direction.
Belgium were on top at the time, and had probably grown complacent. Ramsey was allowed to carry the ball upfield untroubled and found Robson-Kanu in a tight space. First he battled to keep Meunier off, then he twisted and pulled the ball inside as the Dutch master would.
In one leap, he was free. Alone. Only Courtois to beat. Don’t let anyone tell you that, by then, Robson-Kanu had done the hard part. It would have been so easy to miss from there. So easy to panic and rush the shot, or hit it straight at Courtois. Robson-Kanu placed it, beautifully, and with the same effect as Iceland’s second goal in Nice.
Belgium, from there, looked done. Scared. Jittery. They knew this was their match — their tournament maybe — to win.
This is their golden generation. It’s funny how nobody ever says that of Wales. Maybe that is the secret. Maybe that is what is pushing this team to greater and greater heights.
Certainly, the denouement was unimagined. A Belgian fightback? A Welsh Alamo? Hardly. With five minutes to go, Chris Gunter crossed from the right and Vokes met the ball with a header in a way a succession of Belgian giants — Lukaku, Marouane Fellaini — could not.
Courtois was beaten and so were the tournament’s dark horses. Beaten by the darkest horses of all. The one-man team that is, in reality, about anything but a solitary man.
WALES were in dreamland last night after Sam Vokes’ dramatic 85th-minute header booked Chris Coleman’s side a Euro 2016 semi-final date with Portugal.
The brave Dragons came from behind after Radja Nainggolan had opened the scoring for Belgium in the 13th minute, with Ashley Williams’ powerful header restoring parity by half-time.
And there were scenes of jubilation when Hal Robson-Kanu executed a Cruyff turn before putting the Welsh in front in the 55th minute.
They were hanging on to their lead when Vokes, who had replaced Robson-Kanu, rose to head home with five minutes to go.