All Hail Wales

Last night was one of the best things I’ve ever seen in football. Wales outplayed the team ranked second in the world and they did it playing the sort of football that England can only dream of. They played with heart, desire and tremendous skill against a team that contained some genuinely world class players. It was magical. To be fair, the whole Wales story has been magical. 1-0 down to Andorra in the first qualifier, on one of those plastic pitches where all the black bits somehow end up in your trainers, Gareth Bale scores two goals and they nick it 2-1. And they haven’t really looked back. This is a team that have now won two and drawn one against Belgium who must be sick of the sight of them.
When Naingollan scored that fantastic goal after fifteen minutes, I feared for the Welsh. Yes, they qualified top from what might turn out to be the weakest group and beat Northern Ireland in the first knock out game but this was the real deal. 1-0 down in a quarter final against one of the best teams in the world. Surely the journey ends here.
But this Wales team are made of stronger stuff and they came back at the Belgians. After not scoring for six years, Neil Taylor has now become a danger in the opposition penalty box and he almost scored the equaliser. And then Ashley Williams was given a free header six years out, Kevin De Bruyne went wandering from the post and it was 1-1. It turns out that it doesn’t matter how good your forwards are. If you’ve lost half of your first choice defenders, you’re going to struggle at set pieces.
After the break, it was to and fro and Belgium had their chances. But then Gareth Bale pinged a forty yard pass to Aaron Ramsey, he knocked it inside to Hal Robson Kanu. And Robson Kanu, currently without a club contract, sent three Belgium players the wrong way with a Cruyff turn and cooly slotted the ball past Thibault Courtois. What The Actual Fuck! Possibly the goal of the tournament. This wasn’t Brazil, this was Wales. And after a few scares, Chris Gunther crossed the ball and Sam Vokes produced a perfect header and Wales were in the semi-final.
The Wales fans were singing ‘Are you watching England?’ One would hope that the England players, on holiday in their luxury villas were watching this game and feeling just a touch embarrassed. Or is that too much to hope for?
One more thing. Two bookings in five games is not enough to be banned for the semi-final of the European Championships. Aaron Ramsey has a shot at being player of the tournament and I sincerely hope he gets the chance to play in the final.