An essay, on the Welsh National Team

Wales started off with their first competitive game being in 1876 playing Scotland at Ibrox. Wales lost 4-0, but it still was a milestone. Starting off from nothing and all that, they had some history behind them with the fact that this meant they were the third oldest national team in the world. They then planned a return fixture at Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, which is one of the oldest football stadiums in the British Isles. They lost 2-0. It would take some time for them to actually start to win matches, but they came close to avoiding defeat in 1879 after losing to England 2-1. Their first ever win on the board came against Ireland, a match where they trounced the Irish 7-1. There was also the British Home Championship, Which was around until 1984, and won 12 times out of 68 opportunities, which isn’t the greatest ratio of wins, but it’s better than Ireland, and Scotland were on top of the world at that time.

For Wales’ first inclusion in a World Cup, it was definitely one to remember. The qualification process and the actual tournament itself. You see, Wales qualified in a very roundabout way, and simply got lucky. In the AFC qualifying zone, both Egypt and Sudan refused to play Israel, because…well…they were literally at war with one another, and Indonesia wanted to play Israel on a neutral ground (please remember that at this point in history, the Israel is not a legitimate state meme isn’t just a joke). Because the three other teams in Israel’s group had forfeited and FIFA was actually much, much worse back then than what it is today. FIFA had some kind of common sense and didn’t let Israel qualify after not playing a single match, so they looked for a potential team that was close to qualifying but failed in the initial qualifying process so Israel could play against that side in order to merit qualification to the World Cup. “Does anyone in Asia want to play Israel???? Anyone???? No? Well I guess you get another spot UEFA.” Wales had finished second in their group behind Czechoslovakia really wasn’t supposed to be going to this tournament, even though this was the best Welsh side that the 20th century would see. UEFA drew lots of each qualifying groups’ runners-up, and Belgium was the lucky nation. No? You don’t want to play in a tournament that many of your countrymen and players would give an arm and a leg simply just to watch, and play at the World Cup? Fine then, you’re second best Wales. Try and beat Israel for us so we don’t have Egypt leaving FIFA, please. And Wales did. They won 2-0 in Tel-Aviv and backed it up in Cardiff with the same scoreline to send them to the World Cup for the first time. At the World Cup, they drew all of their matches against Mexico, the hosts, Sweden, and a very good Hungarian side. They then beat the Hungarians 2-0 to send them to the second round, but things already weren’t looking good. Their star striker, John Charles had sustained an injury in the previous match, and wasn’t fit to play against Brazil, a Brazil team that had the likes of Pele and Garrincha, and Wales would pay the price, losing 1-0 and subsequently getting knocked out of the tournament altogether.

A rocky time awaited the Welsh in the 1970s. Short on high-end talent, they still reached the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA European Championship. However, this was not the actual finals tournament of the European Cup, as since its inaugural tournament in 1960, it would only include semi-finals, a final, and a third place playoff. Wales lost out on that final spot after losing to a Yugoslavian side in Zagreb, and then returning to Ninian Park to a stormy draw 1-1 with crowd trouble that UEFA responded to with first an outright ban from all competitions, and then lowered it down to a 4-year ban from qualifiers while the Welsh wouldn’t be able to hold matches within 100 miles of Cardiff for the duration of that ban. The result in itself wasn’t as disappointing as it looks, as this was a star-studded Yugoslavian side (imagine Croatia 2018, and then add the skill pool of Serbia to that as well as Edin Dzeko and prime Goran Pandev). Wales still had some success in the Home Championship, winning against England at Wembley for the first time in 42 years, and they haven’t won at Wembley since. Wales once again came incredibly close to qualifying for several major tournaments-only to miss out by the smallest margins. They once again fell short against Yugoslavia, and a 3-0 loss to the Soviet Union meant they didn’t advance on goal difference after flood light problems meant that a sizable amount of time was wasted in a 2-2 draw against Iceland, a match that they could have won. There was then the bid for the 1978 World Cup, which truly started to light the fires of rivalry between all of the Home Nations, and not just against England. The decisive fixture was supposed to be against Scotland, and Wales was supposed to host it-however, due to the “you can’t play less than 100 miles away from Cardiff '' rule, it was played at Anfield. Here, there was a highly controversial penalty given to Scotland with what seemed to be a fluke of a handball, which the Scots converted and won the match with. Meaning for that the 5th time straight, Wales had failed to qualify for a major tournament after being so close. I think it’s bad enough to be called a curse. Whether it was finally broken in 2015, we’ll have to wait and see, but we’ll get to that later on.

Wales, after beating world champions Germany, and Brazil away from home, went on to go through several embarrassing defeats against the likes of Moldova, and Georgia. And here’s where management got important. During that kind of golden era, Mike Yorath had been head coach of the Welsh. However, his contract wasn’t renewed, and he was binned for Real Sociedad coach John Toshack, who got booed off of the pitch by Wales fans still grieving for Yorath, and resigned after one game. Then in came Bobby Gould, and Wales would enter the darkest decades of its football history. Gould fell out with the few high-quality players Wales had at the time, and was more or less tactically inept for the international sport. They lost 7-1 to the Netherlands, and after losing 4-0 to Italy, Gould resigned, and in came Everton legend, and Wales legend Neville Southall, and Mark Hughes. Hughes would instil some kind of hope in the Welsh, almost qualifying for EURO 2004 only to lose to Russia in the playoffs (Russia also doped one of their players, and UEFA decided to do nothing about it whilst knowing full well exactly what had happened). Eventually Hughes resigned for a better looking manager gig at Blackburn, and credit to him-got them relegated. Toshack came back, and Wales’ performances during this time were as well as I can say-Mid. An incredibly skewed performance took place in the World Cup 2006 qualifiers where they lost to Slovakia 5-1 at home, but then went to Trnava to beat Slovakia 5-2 in their own backyard. Toshack stepped down. And in came Speed, and boy did it have an effect.

Speed came in, and things were about to get real different. He appointed a 20 year-old Aaron Ramsey as Welsh captain, making him the youngest captain in Welsh national history. Things from the outside didn’t look better though, as after a 2-0 loss to England in 2011, Wales attained their lowest ever World Ranking of 117th. They bounced back, however, as Wales was fostering a golden generation with players such as Joe Allen, Joe Ledley, and Ben Davies. They also started headhunting for dual nationals, as was the case with what would become their second most impactful player in EURO 2016 out of Hal Robson-Kanu. Like the name suggests, he is of Nigerian descent, but represented England at underage level, and after making a joke about being half-Welsh because his grandmother lived in Caerphilly within earshot of a national scout checking out Chris Gunter during a Reading training camp, he was officially bagged by the Welsh National Team. Speed left and Chris Coleman came in. There honestly wasn’t much improvement. Mixed results in their World Cup Qualifying group where, get this: Belgium actually beat them with ease, 2-0, making it the only match where the Welsh didn’t give the Belgians a headache. However, losing to Croatia at Maksimir meant that they were out of the running again.



Things really did start to change in 2015, however. With Gareth Bale entering the height of his career at Real Madrid, and Arsenal youth product Aaron Ramsey developing into a world-class (though inconsistent) central midfielder, Wales qualified for their first ever European Cup. There were a few worrying results, including only a 2-1 win over Andorra, and 2-0 loss against Bosnia-Herzegovina, however all was forgiven for 2 single results. They shared the same group as Bosnia, who was widely expected to qualify in 2nd, and Belgium, who was developing an incredible golden generation. Belgium would be disappointed in the first match in Brussels, as a sturdy Welsh defence led by Ashley Williams at the peak of his career would further frustrate them to a 0-0 draw. In the return fixture, however, was the time to pounce. And Wales did. An incredible and vastly significant goal by Gareth Bale got them through to the European Cup and began the journey away from the irrelevant Wales of old to a new, golden generation of Welsh Football. A 4-0 win over Cyprus sealed the deal, and Wales were going to EURO 2016.

At this point in time, Wales didn’t have the greatest squad on paper. The three players everyone was looking out for was Gareth Bale, a spry, 26 year-old dynamic winger that had just come off a Champions League Final, and is arguably the most athletic person in the world. Ashley Williams, a sturdy, 28 year-old centre-back whose aerial prowess and anticipation would be a vital part of Wales’ success, and Aaron Ramsey, a central midfielder that you either loved or hated, but was undoubtedly a force before he became injury-prone. They also had Hal Robson-Kanu, a capable target-forward and winger, as well as Joe Allen and Chris Gunter, who still tops the most capped player charts for good reason, and after EURO 2016 would have the best season of his life with Reading where they finished 3rd in the Championship thanks to his tireless service out wide. They were drawn into group B with Slovakia, England, and Russia. This should be an easy group for Russia and England, they said. Oh, how wrong they were. Wales started off against Slovakia, and the Slovaks actually did give them trouble. Gareth Bale scored in the first half, however Ondrej Duda was able to equalise for Slovakia after a well put together counterattack, but Wales got their just rewards thanks to a nice finish by super sub Hal Robson-Kanu. The next match was against England. England were troubled against Russia, and were out for blood against what was supposed to be an easy to beat Welsh side. In short, Wales wasn’t awestruck by the terrible finishing of Harry Kane and instead Gareth Bale opened the scoring with a beautiful goal struck from a free kick 30 yards out. England came back in the second half, however with Jamie Vardy coming on and scoring in his first two touches, and Daniel Sturridge snatching victory from the jaws of defeat with a goal nearing injury time. Wales would not be vanquished, however, and it showed in the third match of the group stage, against Russia. It could only be summed up as a slaughter. Aaron Ramsey opened the scoring early. Then, left-back Neil Taylor was able to poke one in while Gareth Bale capped off the rout and left the Russians trembling in his wake as the Welsh mopped up their remains, winning 3-0. Meanwhile, England played a bore draw against a suddenly very good Slovakia team and this meant, that the Dragons finished top of the group, getting what was supposed and what ended up to be a favourable clash against a Northern Ireland side that got through due to determination of not letting the Irish get farther than them, and the 1-0 scoreline at Parc Des Princes doesn’t emphasise the dominance the Welsh put on their fellow home nation. It was eventually Gareth McAuley who had a Michael Keane spell and was on the receiving end of a cruel deflection forced by Gareth Bale. It was actually not a very fitting way for McAuley to end his 82 caps for his national team, as he was a very good centre-back that led Ulster to the Round Of 16 in a major tournament. They went up against Belgium in the quarter-final. The same Belgian side that just stuffed 4 goals into the back of a Hungarian net, and the same Belgian side that failed to score against the Welsh in their first two encounters in 20 years. It looked like this time it would change, however as Radja Nainggolan put Belgium up 1 pretty early in the first half with an absolute prime Thomas Partey-like screamer. However, enter Ashley Williams, who scores off of an incredible setpiece. Hal Robson-Kanu then comes in and puts the Welsh in front, while Sam Vokes finishes it all off, making it 3-1 Wales. Wales, little old Wales, has just reached a European Cup semi-final beating one of the best teams in Europe (of course they still had Jordan Lukaku at Right-Back however). Now onwards to Portugal. Finally, however, on that muggy night in Bordeaux, Portugal would finally turn on, and Wales would be the unlucky victims. Portugal had almost bottled 3 times in a row, very nearly getting knocked out in the groups to Hungary, requiring extra time to beat Croatia, and being unable to score against Poland and needing penalties to advance. This time, however, Portugal had come into this semi-final determined to make their easy path count, and they did. Cristiano Ronaldo rose up above a crowd of Welshmen to score in a set piece. The Dragons did all they could, but the pressure that the Portuguese applied was too much to bear, and Portugal got a second through Nani. Wales had entered their first major tournament in 62 years, and reached the semis. Let that sink in. Wales were one failed set piece away from playing in a final against France.

Wales were then immediately launched into the qualifying stage of the 2018 World Cup, and actually looked pretty comfortable to qualify. Unfortunately, even though they went almost unbeaten, 1 too many draws meant they were stuck in third behind a Serbian and Irish team after losing at home to Ireland on the last day.



Wales then came into EURO 2020. shoot had hit the fan earlier on in the year when the man that led them to a European semi-final, Ryan Giggs had to stay home as he was to stand trial for a sexual assault charge, and at the end of the day, you can’t just let those types of people walk free. In his place was Rob Paige. Everyone immediately predicted Wales to finish bottom of the group, but Rob proved his worth. In their first match against Switzerland, Breel Embolo put the Swiss up pretty early, but Wales rallied back and equalised with a goal by young Right-Back Connor Roberts. It ended 1-1, and the Welsh went out to face Turkey in Baku. Here, it wasn’t even close. Turkey experienced what Russia goes through when they have to play Slovakia. Aaron Ramsey puts Wales up one already, while Kieffer Moore finishes off with a lovely setpiece header, so that Wales clinch their spot in the Round Of 16. On the third matchday, against Italy at the Stadio Olimpico, Wales put up a decent challenge (they were better against Italy than the Swiss and Turkish anyway). Unfortunately, Gareth Bale doesn’t take a chance served to him on a silver platter, and Ethan Ampadu got sent off after a Federico Chiesa wonder goal made the difference that Italy needed. They still finished runners-up on goal difference, however, and got a game against Denmark. Well, Wales play well in the first 10 minutes, then a Danish side running high on emotion overwhelms them and scored 4 past them while Harry Wilson wrongly gets sent off and a Welsh goal gets disallowed.

 The Welsh didn’t start off too well, after losing 3-1 to their now bitter rivals Belgium. They then bounced back, beating the Czech Republic, and got 3 more points over Belarus even though it was scrappy, and it required a Gareth Bale hat-trick to get them out of a hole. There was also an uninspiring draw against Estonia in Tallinn, but all was forgiven on the very last day of the groups, where they faced Belgium. Kevin De Bruyne put Belgium up by 1 pretty early, but Kieffer Moore, a 30 year-old Chinese-born target forward who has now become the Hal Robson-Kanu of 2016, scored in the 32nd minute and Wales held on to a draw to frustrate the Belgians once more. This bagged the runner-up spot in the group for them, and while they were almost guaranteed a spot at the beginning due to winning their Nations League group, it didn’t mean they were put in a more favourable pot, so they went for runner-up while Austria and the Czech Republic sat back and got trounced by Israel, for some reason feeling comfortable to play away from home. Wales got stuck into a playoff path where they had to beat Austria at home, as well as the winner of the Scotland/Ukraine match at home to qualify. The match started off a bit shaky, with Austria’s Marcel Sabitzer rattling the crossbar, and the fact that Daniel Ward was out injured meaning they had to rely on a hero of 2016 Wayne Hennessey only made it more uncomfortable knowing they had a 35 year-old Burnley benchwarmer instead of the spry, 28 year-old Welshman that actually gets playing time. Still, Wales pulled through with good defending by Joe Rodon and Chris Mepham, and then Gareth Bale struck. Coming into this match, Bale had been injured, but shook it off to play. Also right before this match, A Spanish newspaper released an article attacking Bale calling him a parasite. There are trends of the Spanish media attacking British people and people with big ears, but this is just overboard. Even with that, he started, and scored the first free-kick goal for Wales since 2016 when that absolute beauty wiggled it’s way past Joe Hart in EURO 2016. It was in an eerily similar fashion to that same goal as well. Bale then scored again to put Wales up 2-0 with a close-range shot deflected into the top of the net after an incredible rush into the six-yard box. Austria pulled one back thanks to Marcel Sabitzer who was pulling all of the strings out there for Austria, but it was too little, too late and Wales held on for a historic 2-1 win over Austria so that the World Cup was within jumping reach. In between themselves and the World Cup, was Ukraine who had beaten Scotland 3-1 thanks to goals by Artem Dovbyk, Andriy Yarmolenko and Oleksander Zinchenko. Ukraine were riding high on a wave of emotion for...well...obvious reasons and were reacting well to it. The match itself was a very cagey affair. Ukraine created the better chances, but inspired performances Ben Davies and Wayne Hennessey who on paper shouldn't have started in front of his younger more proven counterpart Danny Ward, meant that Ukraine wouldn't score. It looked as if they had opened the scoring pretty early as well with a rocket of a free kick by Oleksandr Zinchenko, but the setpiece was taken to quickly for the referee's liking. And then, only 5 minutes before the break, there was a setpiece. Gareth Bale took the free kick. It was on target but also cannoned off of Andriy Yarmolenko's head. It would later go down as an own-goal (really it was on target and Gareth should have fought for that), but I didn't care. I jumped out of my seat, punching the air. Wales had scored. They had the advantage. After 64 years of pain it looked as if they would be going to the World cup. Ukraine still caught the Welsh back line out, but Wales on the counter were equally dangerous. Toffee Vitaliy Mykolenko was a bit flustered with marking Neco Williams on the wing, and while I was happy to see Wales dominating out wide, I had conflicting emotions for poor Myko. Brennan Johnson replaced him, and casually skipped past two defenders in his first few touches. Connor Roberts was struggling on the other side of the pitch, but Aaron Ramsey helped out, pulling in a few quality crosses. Then, PEEEEEEEEEPPPPP WALES WERE GOING TO THE WORLD CUP!!!!!! I was ecstatic. My English heritage does mean that England does come first, but seeing he team that made me love the sport had entered one of the biggest world stages. It felt like a journey, that I accompanied this country with every step of the way. I felt so grateful, almost as grateful as the result against Crystal Palace lol, but that's left for another essay.

Now we move on the the Nations League. Wales was stuffed into a group with Belgium, The Netherlands, and Poland. They took the lead in the first match against Poland, but goals by Sebastien Szymanski and Karol Swiderski meant that Poland came back to win 2-1. Their next match was in Cardiff against the Netherlands. This was probably the most painful one. Wales equalized a goal by Memphis Depay late on, but Wout Weghorst, a man who was about as useful for Burnley this season as I was sitting at home, scored in injury time to amplify the pain. Next was Belgium at home. Guess the score? 1-1. Even with the painful late goals, Wales always find a way to annoy Belgium. Then there would be more injury time misery against Netherlands in Amsterdam where Memphis Depay would score the winner when only 2 minutes earlier Gareth Bale scored a penalty to equalize. They have 2 matches left against Belgium and Poland with 1 point on the bottom of the group. Poland will be a game of utter importance, but it's in Cardiff, while they need to extend their good run of form against Belgium if they are to stand a chance against relegation.

They are fostering a new talented generation that can only get better, with pieces like Chris Mepham, and Joe Rodon in defence, Connor Roberts is looking like a sturdy replacement for Neil Taylor at Left-Back, while Sorba Thomas is looking to replace the ageing Chris Gunter at Right-Back, and Chinese-born Rubin Colwill has come in to seamlessly replace the gap that Joe Ledley left in midfield, and Tyler Roberts is already looking to be a good striker by the standards Wales had for Robson-Kanu, while two decent wingers out of Dan James and Harry Wilson are on the brink of their respective primes, and a strapping young talent out of Brennan Johnson has become the main man for a Forest side on the brink of promotion. this national team will always have a special place in my heart. This is the team that introduced me to the sport, and boy, I could never have asked for a better introduction.