The small mountainous country of Wales is part of a powerful UK. But the Welsh themselves, each year, move farther and farther away from the influence of English politics, both in public life and in cultural life. This small country with a population of just over 3,000,000 has gained worldwide fame after the 2016 European Football Championship . Match Portugal - Wales watched, without exaggeration, the whole country.
Welshmen greeted the players of their national team as national heroes, and it is not surprising, because these courageous people managed to prove to the whole world that the strength is not in the number of square kilometers that belong to the country, and not in the population. It is courage and perseverance in achieving the goal that are the hallmarks of the Wales football team.
The history of Wales football
Wales is one of the oldest football powers of the Old World. The national team of this country held their first match in 1876 against the national team of Scotland and lost it with the score 0: 4.
The Welsh, although possessing excellent physical characteristics, were never strong in individual mastery. All their successes as a team were based on a high-quality team game and strict adherence to the instructions of the coaching staff.
True, the Welsh national team could not boast of special achievements. That was until 2016 - this year was marked by a star named Wales. This event simply blew up world football and was a complete surprise for many titled European teams.
Qualifying games
For the first time since 1958, the Welsh made it to the final stage of the European Championship. In their group, they took second place, immediately after the Belgian national team, although in personal meetings the advantage was on the side of Wales.
On the way to the finals of the European Championships, the Wales team left far behind such teams as the teams of Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Andorra. For the entire qualifying round, the Welsh have conceded just 4 goals, which characterizes them as a team that knows how to defend effectively. And Bale’s 7 goals (they scored 11 in total) led the team to the finals with a good difference between goals scored and goals conceded.
Group Tournament: Final Stage
Chris Coleman's wards played their first match of the group series with the Slovak team. Although the national team of Slovakia was not among the favorites of this tournament, it was impossible to underestimate the rivals. Already in the 11th minute of the match, it was Gareth Bale who opened the score and put his team ahead. Slovaks took 50 minutes to even the score. But football luck that day was clearly on the side of the Welsh, and already in the 81st minute the goal of Robson-Kanu brought the Wales team ahead. They managed to keep this winning score until the end of the match, and the Welshmen continued their journey at the European Championships, having 3 points in their assets.
The next match Wales - England ended in victory for the British. And this despite the fact that the Welsh were the first to score. Tuning in for this match, the English national team players understood that Wales is a very ambitious team, which, although it does not have such a “star” roster as the English, will fight until the last minutes of the match. Only Daniel’s goal in the 92nd minute of the match saved the English team from losing points.
Well, probably, the match against the Russian team was the brightest game that the Welsh team played in the group stage. The Welsh proved once again that they came to win this tournament. Only in the first half of the game, Bale and the company hit the gate of the Russian team 9 times. 2 of these attacks ended in a goal, and the Welsh scored another goal in the second half. Two convincing victories allowed Wales to enter the 1/8 championship.
Victory procession
For the match against Northern Ireland, the Wales team has already come out as a favorite. But the wards of O'Neill studied the tactics of the Welsh team and did not give much scope for attacks. Only thanks to the own goal of the Northern Ireland player, Chris Coleman's team reached the quarterfinals, where they were again waiting for the rivals in the qualifying round - the Belgian team.
The match Wales - Belgium was a huge disappointment for the Belgian fans. Such a stellar composition, which was collected from the Belgians, did not have almost any team in the tournament. The mentor of the Belgian team, Mark Wilmots, was unable to help his wards in any way when they pulled the balls out of the net of their goal one by one. More than a convincing victory of Wales 3: 1 was the sensation of this European Championship.
Ronaldo vs. Bale?
The semi-final promised to be intriguing. The match Portugal - Wales was held with the huge support of fans of both teams. In the press, this match was dubbed Bail and Ronaldo, although, of course, it all depended on how each team could get together and not make stupid mistakes.
What could the Portuguese oppose to the Welsh team players? Slurred game in the group round (3 draws), victory over rivals in extra time or by the results of a penalty against the bright and dynamic game of Bale and his comrades.
But the Welsh tale ended precisely in this match, which they lost with a score of 0: 2. Despite the defeat, in the homeland the players were greeted as real heroes who discovered a small country all over the world from a completely different perspective.