BALE FORCE
O’Neill backs Wales to beat England in France thanks to the superstar in their ranks
MICHAEL O’NEILL has tipped Wales to spring a surprise and beat England at Euro 2016 — because of Gareth Bale.
The Northern Ireland manager was minutes away from inflicting defeat on Wales in their final home game before the tournament in France. But Bale was absent from Thursday’s 1-1 draw in Cardiff and O’Neill believes the Real Madrid star is capable of propelling his country on a deep run when the competitive action starts.
He said: ‘I think the key to international football is not to be beaten, to find a way to win. When you have Gareth Bale in your squad, you have a way to win.
‘So I do think Wales have a genuine chance (against England). Teams will be scared of Bale, and to have a player of that stature in your side puts fear into people. Wales could do well in the tournament.
‘People watching our game will find it difficult to judge based on the fact that Bale and Aaron Ramsey didn’t play.
‘What Wales showed is that they have other good players. I was impressed with several of their midfield.’
O’Neill has challenged his players to run harder and longer than any other side at Euro 2016 to emulate Costa Rica’s table-topping feat at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
He insists it is the only way his side can progress from Group C, which includes Germany, Poland and Ukraine. ‘I’ve told the players that for us to be competitive, we are going to have to run further than any other team,’ he said.
‘We will have to be well organised, adaptable and we are probably going to need players to play the best international football of their career.
‘We know our best opportunity for points will come in our opening two games. The first match against Poland is huge for us and if we can take something from that game, we go into the Ukraine match thinking “win this and we could qualify”.
‘Poland will be difficult but, having seen them against Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, there was very little in it. I just think that between a lot of the teams, there’s very little in it. The ones with the big players, the (Robert) Lewandowskis of this world, if you can keep them quiet you have more than a chance of competing.’
Defender Gareth McAuley, meanwhile, believes Northern Ireland will benefit from striker Kyle Lafferty going on loan to Birmingham.
Lafferty was his country’s talisman in qualifying by scoring seven goals — the same number as Bale — but has long been frozen out at Norwich.
The former Rangers man has played just 45 minutes of club football all season but is set to feature significantly for Birmingham as they chase a Championship play-off place.
‘Everyone within the squad has been saying to him: “Get games”. He’s done that by going on loan,’ said McAuley. ‘He is excited at the move. It’s been a long time and a lot of frustrating stuff has happened behind the scenes. What he’s done for us, you thought he would get more of a chance at Norwich.
‘He’s kept his head down and is in decent nick for not having played a lot of football this season. He’ll get sharpness from playing games for Birmingham. He’ll get goals and confidence. He’s a major player and a real threat for us.’
Meanwhile, Martin O’Neill fears Robbie Keane’s long-haul flight from Los Angeles might have caused him to miss the Republic of Ireland’s back-to-back friendlies.
The Irish manager had said his captain would ‘definitely’ feature in either Friday’s 1-0 win over Switzerland or Tuesday’s game against Slovakia.
However, the LA Galaxy striker is struggling with a knee injury and has been unable to train since making the 11-hour trip to join up with the national side.
O’Neill is optimistic the 35-year-old is not suffering a long-term problem ahead of Euro 2016 but admitted there is concern about the issue, which may have been exacerbated by his lengthy flight.
O’Neill said: ‘I don’t want to be scaremongering. Robbie has stayed out of the training here and the problem with the knee didn’t seem to get any better,
‘I think he feels this is not a long-term thing, he is just slightly concerned because he thought he would be over it.
‘Then he had the flight and it is a long one. Maybe that didn’t give it a chance to settle.
‘But he is our captain and our best goalscorer. He is also excellent around the place.’
‘WHEN YOU’VE GARETHIN YOUR SQUAD, YOU HAVE A WAY TO WIN’