da brwin： A squad in unison – that was the best way to describe Wales’ team after their 2-1 victory over Slovakia in their opening group game in France.
da jogodeouro： As soon as Gareth Bale swung in that fantastic free-kick, he sprinted over to the Wales bench to joyfully celebrate with his teammates. And not only did his teammates join in with the celebrations, the whole bench did, from the physios to the coaches. It was a real picture of unison and truly showed just how high the team-spirit is in that Welsh squad.
And the Welsh players had every right to be jubilant – they were extremely impressive against Slovakia, and will go into their game against England in high spirits.
But what stood out most was just how much each and every Welsh player came together to force the result in their favour. They were far from the one-man-team many sides expected them to be, and whilst Gareth Bale played well, he wasn’t the only man that looked threatening for the Dragons.
Many thought Joe Allen was particularly impressive. For a man that struggles to get into the Liverpool side week-after-week, he really looked comfortable in the middle of the park. He broke up the play and broke down the waves of Slovakia attacks, which were spearheaded by Napoli superstar Marek Hamsik. He hustled, harried and showed his ability to get his head up to play a pass.
Against Sweden in their final build-up game, Wales really missed that certain someone to break up the play and distribute the ball around the field. But Allen showed just how integral he is to Coleman’s side and he did little to dampen his chances of breaking into the Liverpool side next season either.
Chris Gunter is a man that has been flitting around the international set-up for a while now and he was another figure who shone against Slovakia. The Reading defender looked the fittest man on the pitch, bombing up and down from the full-back position to support his sides’ attacks but breaking up the play as a defender too. He has over 65 caps for his international side now, and that really showed against Slovakia.
Wales also showed they have strength from the bench. Hal Robson-Kanu came on and scored a slightly dubious goal, but to be able to leave a player of his quality on the bench to use as an impact substitution is a sign of the strength the Wales side have in their ranks. He added that extra bit of zip they may have been lacking as the game grew old, and showed why a handful of Premier League sides have been linked with his signature this summer.
But could Wales do the unthinkable and win the Euros? It’s easy to say no – of course it is. But with Bale and co. all pulling together to deliver an impressive performance against Slovakia to send them to the top of the group, a win against England could see them through to the next round.
And then, who knows?
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