To say "Without Bale we wouldn't have qualified" is as ridiculous a statement as Monks "without their 2 goals we would would have won". The fact is we have Bale - deal with it. Without winning those matches we could have lost. Without keeping those clean sheets we would have conceded more goals. If they hadn't missed their chances they would have scored. The facts are that we kept clean sheets, Bale scored goals and they missed chances. We qualified, so did Poland - who obviously wouldn't have without Lewandowski,so did Iceland - who wouldn't have without Gylfi : BUT ALL HAD THEM AND ALL DID.
Very true. We're not a one-man team but not far off. Williams has been immense too. But there's no shame in that. We're a small nation that has failed to qualify numerous times when we actually had many more 'stars' playing at one time than we do now. Saunders, Hughes, Giggs spring to mind (think Rushie had gone by then? Can't remember). But you see the point. All that matters is that we've made it and we should be proud of that fact.
If you think we would have qualified without bale your living on another planet. Yes its a great achievement at last after nearly 60 years but we did it in a poor group with only one team of any worth........We will get stuffed in France and will be one of the teams everyone will want in their group. But it's something to look forward too at last and at least we are in it for once but don't kid yourself we are as good as the big boys because we are far from that. We need a couple of good strikers and other positions filled before France or we will end up whipping boys in the tournament and there ain't any better than what we got out there sadly. It has been a fantastic achievement abet results going our way helping us out but that is as far as we will go.....
To be fair, I'm not sure about us being whipping boys. Depends on the draw I guess. But we are tough to score against and our results prove that. We may actually make the later stages, you never know. For now I'm just glad we're there.
We may get lady luck in our games you never know, i hope the Draw will be kind to us. England are seeded so they have a good chance and we are 4th seed which makes things much harder and less likely to qualify through the group stages. But at last we are there ........Why we 4th seed is a bit baffling all the same as we were ranked above England at one point and just goes to show how this ranking business is a load of old tosh....
Dai, all I'm saying is that it doesn't matter - because we DO have Bale. It's a waste of time to hypothesise about something that never happened. It's no different to saying Man City wouldn't have won the PL if not for their money. The fact is that they have the money - end of. We have Bale - end of. That's the point. You can say any team wouldn't be as good without their star players. It's obvious.
The difference is the Big sides have 11 quality players and we have just three at most, We will struggle when we come up against any of the big sides. England have had the easiest route to the tournament and they wont find it as easy against teams with substance and to be blunt England would beat Wales with ease and room to spare....
We may be currently high on the FIFA rankings, but it means very little as they work on the sendings based on past championships and we ain't got any!!
Belgium are a team full of quality players aren't they ? In 2 matches they couldn't score against us. I think we are a bit better than you give us credit for Dai. Of course we know the teams like Germany etc should beat us, but Ireland have just beaten them as well. I think we have a chance against anyone - albeit as underdogs.
Of course we can beat any big side with a bit of luck but to do it constantly is very unlikely. None of the home nations are good enough in reality and only England have any realistic chance of getting out of the group stage with being seeded but once they get to play other seeded teams then we will see England struggle....
Three? Bale, Ramsey, Williams, Allen, Taylor, Ben Davies, all quality Premier league players...........
Three? Bale, Ramsey, Williams, Allen, Taylor, Ben Davies, all quality Premier league players...........[img src="http://www.not606.com/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/f_ok.gif" class="mceSmilie" alt=" Yes they are good but not world class.....some of those cant even get into their club sides dragon
is the correct answer. a smattering of overhyped players who historically fall short in every tournament , Wales don't have great expectations but regardless of the quality rejoice in their achievements, better players than the current squad have achieved far less so why put a downer on them before they've even passed through customs .
