WALES GROUNDED IN DANISH BUILD-UP
WALES’ preparations for their Nations League clash with Denmark have suffered a big blow after their plane was grounded yesterday due to a technical fault.
Ryan Giggs’ troops trained at their Vale Resort base on Saturday morning and were due to fly from Cardiff directly to Aarhus at 3pm.
But a problem with the team’s plane meant their arrival was significantly delayed. They were scheduled to take off at 8.30pm and arrive at their Aarhus hotel late last night.
Manager Giggs was due to face the media last night, shortly after their opponents held a press conference at Ceres Park, but that was cancelled.
It continued what has been an unusual week of preparation for the national side who initially thought they would be coming up against a scratch Denmark side in their second Nations League encounter.
Denmark’s stars had been embroiled in a row with the Danish FA (DBU) over commercial rights, and after failing to agree terms with each other, stars including Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen and Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel looked set to miss the clash with Wales.
The Danes fielded a side consisting solely of amateur and semi-professional players for their friendly with Slovakia on Wednesday in order to ensure they were not penalised by UEFA for failing to fulfil the fixture.
To their credit, the scratch Denmark team – which included a parttime salesman and students - were only beaten 3-0 by a Slovakia side - ranked 26th in the world – that included the likes of ex-Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel and Napoli hitman Marek Hamsik.
But ahead of Wales’ 4-1 win over Republic of Ireland at Cardiff City Stadium, the DBU confirmed they were continuing to negotiate with top players over their availability for the clash with Wales.
And on Friday morning, they announced they had temporarily agreed to let their key stars play Giggs’ side on their previously agreed terms, meaning Eriksen and Co. are now set to line up against Wales today (5pm) after all.
At the Danish press conference, Schmeichel said Giggs had Wales playing the Manchester United way.
Leicester keeper Schmeichel knows Giggs well as his dad Peter played alongside him at Old Trafford.
He says Giggs’ education and success under Sir Alex Ferguson at United, where he amassed 34 trophies, is showing in Wales’ tactics.
Schmeichel, 31, said: “You take the last game and you can see the flair and spark they played with.
“It is similar to the DNA he inher- ited at Manchester United. It is going to be very interesting to see where he can take it.
“He has a very talented squad in Wales after something Gary Speed started and then continued under Chris Coleman, who did well.
“Now Ryan is putting his own stamp on it and judging by the last game he has had a really good start.”
And Danish coach Age Hareide added: “Wales play with a lot of enthusiasm offensively, they play very quick between the lines and go forward with a lot of people.
”That looks like United in the best period under Ferguson and it is natural for Giggs to adopt the best of Manchester United.”
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