I’m not going to waste my or your time by writing a couple of thousand words on Wales’ 4-1 defeat by Spain at the Principality Stadium last night because there’s very little worth saying about it.
Spain are probably the best side in the world at the moment after beating England at Wembley and hammering World Cup runners up Croatia 6-0 last month, so it was a game they were always likely to win, but, for me, it had the air of a testimonial or fund raising game watched by a crowd that was silent most of the time (or, at least that was how it sounded on the telly).
Wales were missing the injured Gareth Bale and a strange selection by Ryan Giggs left me thinking that he was saving a few for the real stuff (in as far as the Nations League can be regarded as a serious competition) on Tuesday when we play the return game with the Republic of Ireland following our 4-1 win last month.
As for the move back to the rugby stadium which was Wales’ footballing home for much of nineties and noughties, well, I hope the sight of it only being about two thirds full and the lack of sound coming from the stands will persuade the FAW that the move away from proper football stadia should be a one off.
A full Cardiff City Stadium has provided some great occasions for Welsh football in the last few years and, if matches have to be played away from that ground, then let them be at the Liberty Stadium (I’d love to see the improvements needed being made to the Racecourse, a proper football ground, in Wrexham to ensure they could host the occasional match too).
As for the match, apart from when the South Walian Liverpool fans were booing Sergio Ramos while he was on the pitch, it was all rather genteel – Spain were good, but for the first hour or so it was as if Wales were were fully prepared to stand off them and give them the time and space to display their skills to their full extent.
All four Spanish goals came with varying degrees of Welsh assistance – Wayne Hennessey might have made a better job of punching the ball away in the build up for the first one, there was non existent marking for the second one, the third saw a couple of “assists” from red shirted players before the ball was put in and the fourth was just a straightforward header from a corner,
Wales did rally in the final quarter of an hour, with substitute David Brooks showing up well and the last significant action of the game saw Sam Vokes head home from a lovely cross by the aforementioned Brooks.
However, all in all, it was hard not to avoid comparisons with the Cardiff v Man City match from three weeks ago. If you are a Cardiff City supporting Wales fan, then I’m afraid, Wales v the Republic of Ireland apart, the 2018/19 season has seen far too many matches where you watch the opposition having considerably more of the ball than your team as they chase shadows, almost always in a losing cause, yet there are those who are still saying they are”enjoying the ride” this season!
I agree with everything you say, including your closing comment on the City. More specifically, Vokes and Gabbidon’s comments about playing in the Principality Stadium regularly are ridiculous (in fact the thought of Vokes playing regularly is pretty daft as well). The waving of phone lights in the stands during the game also had an old fart like me wondering what the hell was going on!
On the playing front, I’m no Giggs fan but calls for his head after games against two quality teams are daft. I found some of his selections puzzling but we have a bigger game to think about next week. However, the prospect of Ashley continuing to play and captain the team fills me with dread. Similarly, Gunter and King shouldn’t be featuring prominently with Roberts x 2, Smith and Mepham proving to be more than adequate replacements.
As Arthur used to say: “Oi, ref! Can we have a ball? They got that one!”
For that comment refer to City v Man C and Wales v Spain.
‘Nuff said.
Steve Perry.
<
Clive and Steve, thanks for your replies – I think our defending without Mepham on Thursday showed how important he has become to us even at this very early stage in his international career (I’ve been impressed with Smith when he’s come on as well).