UEFA EURO 2016: Wales team preview

18:00, Jul 10 2016
18:00, Jul 10 2016
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Qualifying for EURO 2016 is a landmark achievement for Wales, who will play in the finals of a European championships for the first time in history. This is already a huge accomplishment, but Wales will feel that this is only the first step up the footballing ladder and will no doubt be looking to put on a big show in France. The Dragons have improved dramatically over the past few years, and thanks to the management of Chris Coleman and team leaders: Wayne Hennessey, Ashley Williams, Aaron Ramsey and of course Gareth Bale, Wales are now ranked by FIFA at 24th in the world. They will also be looking to break into that top 10 and surpass their rivals England (currently ranked 10th). A good showing at the Euros might help them do just that. This Wales side are certainly one of the competitions underdogs, but their motivation to improve and do well shouldn’t be questioned. In games against England and Russia it’s hard to imagine that they won’t be up for the fight since England are their neighboring rivals, while Russia prevented them from making it to Euro 2004 in an emotional play-off encounter.

Euro 2016 Squad (final 23 yet to be confirmed)

Goalkeepers: Wayne Hennessey (Crystal Palace), Danny Ward (Liverpool), Owain Fon Williams (Inverness).

Defenders: Ben Davies (Tottenham), Neil Taylor, Ashley Williams (both Swansea), Chris Gunter (Reading), James Chester (West Brom), Ashley Richards (Fulham), Paul Dummett (Newcastle), Adam Henley (Blackburn), Adam Matthews (Sunderland), James Collins (West Ham).

Midfielders: Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal), Joe Ledley, Jonathan Williams (Crystal Palace), David Vaughan (Nottingham Forest), Joe Allen (Liverpool), David Cotterill (Birmingham), George Williams (Fulham), Andy King (Leicester), Emyr Huws (Wigan), Dave Edwards (Wolves), Gareth Bale (Tottenham).

Forwards: Hal Robson-Kanu (Reading), Sam Vokes (Burnley), Tom Bradshaw (Walsall), Tom Lawrence (Leicester), Simon Church (Nottingham Forest), Wes Burns (Walsall).

Key Player: Gareth Bale

Bale has been left out of the Wales squad for their Euro training camp because of his participation in the Champions League final, but nobody believes that the Real Madrid player will be out of the team in June. Bale would be one of the star players in any team and he’s certainly the main man in this one. The left footed maestro is a player who can inspire this side and has the ability to create goals out of nothing. It can’t be said that he is the only star in this team, since many of his teammates are key players for their clubs, but Bale is now as iconic for his country as Ryan Giggs and Ian Rush were before him. With seven of the teams’ 11 goals in qualifying Bale was the driving force in getting Wales to these finals.

Qualifying

Wales finished 2nd in their qualifying group, just two points behind Belgium. It could’ve easily been 1st place for Wales after they defeated the eventual group winners 1:0, but a loss against Bosnia proved to be crucial. Despite some fairly low-key stats (11 scored and 4 conceded goals), the Dragons qualified for EURO 2016 with relative comfort.

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Group Matches

Wales v Slovakia, June 11, 2016

England v Wales, June 16, 2016

Russia v Wales, June 20, 2016

Click here for the full Euro 2016 match schedule.

Verdict

Solid would be one way to describe Wales in qualifying and if they can combine this with the odd piece of brilliance from their main man Bale then making the last 16 in this competition shouldn’t be too much to ask. How deep they can go in this tournament looks as though it may largely depend on how well the so called “big” nations perform, but given that it’s fair to assume that the Welsh would qualify from this group in 2nd place they would find themselves up against one of Europe’s elite. With this in mind, Wales to be eliminated in the 2nd round looks a good bet (6/4).

In addition to this William Hill have a tasty looking offer where you can get Bale to outscore Rooney at evens. Bale has outscored the Englishman in each of the last three seasons domestically and is likely to be the focal point of all Welsh attacks, whereas Rooney is looking increasingly likely to be outperformed by some of England’s newest recruits.

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EURO 2016
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