da betsul： Despite a draw at home to Israel at the weekend, Wales are still on the brink of qualification for Euro 2016. Not only would this mark a great achievement for the Welsh national team, but it would also represent their first qualification for a major tournament since 1958.
da mrbet： In the lead-up to the internationals, the focus has been on the talisman, the lucky charm. Not just for Wales, but Wayne Rooney and England, Robbie Keane and the Republic of Ireland, the (potential) decline of Chelsea’s John Terry, the fact that Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany are back to their best for Manchester City. Wales have their very own talisman in Gareth Bale, of course, and qualification for the Euros probably shows just how good the boy is.
It’s worth remembering that Wales have had some other wonderful players throughout the years who never managed to bring the team to a Finals – Toshack, Rush, Hughes, Giggs. But it’s also worth remembering that 1958 is a long time ago. The last time Wales played in a Finals, Bobby Charlton had scored only two England goals and The Beatles were still The Quarrymen. So for Wales to be so close to automatic qualification for a European Championships is a remarkable feat.
The task was made easier by the expansion of the tournament, for sure. Wales could still finish third in their group if they lose their final three games, but they’d still be in with a shout and have the chance to qualify through the playoffs. But just because third place gives you another chance to qualify, it shouldn’t dampen this achievement.
If they finish top of their group, they’d have qualified automatically even if the tournament were in the old format. They’d have done enough to qualify for a World Cup automatically too. Come second in the group and they would still have had the chance to qualify even in a campaign where qualification was tougher.
It’s almost a shame for Bale that he finds himself in such a position. Two years ago, Bale was already a phenomenally good player, but since his move to Real Madrid he’s become a true world star. One goal in every two games for Real Madrid eclipses what he managed at Spurs – although he did start out as a left back at the North London club. Playing alongside top players at perhaps the best known club in the world has brought his game on a great deal.
Yet, at Real he’s not the star. No one can be the star except Cristiano Ronaldo. There simply is no other star than Ronaldo. It’s with Wales where Bale is the star, and his achievement in dragging Wales towards the Euros is nothing short of wonderful.
Bale is his country’s Cristiano Ronaldo, not his club’s. Ronaldo almost single-handedly took his country to the World Cup finals in Brazil in 2014. When he got there, his year with Real Madrid – winning the Copa Del Rey and their tenth European Cup/Champions League took its toll as he struggled for form and Portugal were eliminated in the group stages.
The great thing from Bale’s point of view is that although he may have to work as hard as Ronaldo this season if his club are to lift trophies and his club is to qualify for the Euros, Bale will not live his life with the pressure and expectation that Ronaldo is under constantly. The Welshman will only feel that particular heat when the Euros themselves come around, and he’ll be tasked with getting his country out of their group.
That’s not to belittle the roles played by Wales’s other heroes: Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey are also very good players who ply their trade at the top of the Premier League, and it is arguable that Ashley Williams belongs there too given his performances with Swansea over the last few seasons.
But it is to say that Wales would be fighting a much harder battle without their talisman. Bale has scored four of Wales’s nine qualifying goals, but it’s his presence in the dressing room that seems to give the team a lift. He’s just one of the lads, it seems, but without him who knows where they’d be – it’s both his abilities on the pitch and around the dressing room that help his teammates out.
If we think Ronaldo justifies his tag as the best player in the world every time he takes his country by the scruff of the neck and drags them to a World Cup or European Championships, then we must hold Bale in the same category. But Wales is a nation more than three times smaller than Portugal – and Portugal is a small nation of only ten million people itself.
Bale’s role in dragging Wales to a major Championships is huge, and it has shown just how good a player he is. He will be one of the footballing greats by the time he retires, that’s a prediction, even if it is a fairly safe. But it is a fact that he’ll be a Welsh great. To drag his country to the top ten in the FIFA world rankings – no matter how much of a joke you think it is – and more importantly to drag them to a major Finals for only the second time in their history is worthy of hero status.
Surely it solidifies Bale’s place among the ranks of Messi and Ronaldo.
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