' LATEST NEWS: CYPRUS V WALES ' MATCH THREAD '

Opps, should have read the rest of the thread before posting!

1-0 Bale

Euro 2016 qualifying: Spurs star Ben Davies says Belgian teammates believe Wales have already reached France


2 SEPTEMBER 2015

BY CHRIS WATHAN

Davies says the likes of Jan Vertonghen and Nacer Chadli have made it known they think Wales are effectively in France and they are looking to join them


Ben Davies has spent years waiting for Wales to be taken seriously – but now he doesn’t want to listen to any such talk after revealing Belgium stars think Chris Coleman’s men are already in France.

Instead, all the 22-year-old wants to hear is the sound of a final whistle to know the talking is over come the end of this week of weeks for Welsh football... if it means a “once in a lifetime” opportunity has been seized.

Wales can take that chance with victories over Cyprus and Israel while as a top-10 nation set to go above England in Fifa’s rankings for the first time, Davies acknowledges there’s a new-found respect for the red-shirted Dragons.

And Spurs’ quartet of Belgians beaten in Cardiff in June are among them.

“The jokes at Wales aren’t so funny now,” smiles Spurs’ former Swansea City full-back.


“Even speaking to the Belgian boys before the June game, they knew that they were going to be in for a tough game.

“We’ve played them a good couple of times over the last couple of years and they really were taking us seriously so it was nice to be able to go back in and give them a bit.



“It’s especially nice when the rest of the dressing room wasn’t expecting us to pick up anything, so it’s good to feel that respect the side is getting.

“The aim is to make sure we back that up by being out there in France next summer, that was what we set out to do at the start of the campaign and we’ve given ourselves every opportunity of achieving it.”

Yet asked if Group B rivals Belgium’s Tottenham stars, including the likes of Jan Vertonghen and Nacer Chadli, think it’s done, Davies said: “Yes. 100%. They pretty much see it that we’ve qualified and they’re looking to join us, unless something crazy happens to them. But that’s their side of it – being typically Welsh we know it’s not done until it’s done.


“We still have a lot to do but from their point of view, from speaking to them, they see us as already there.”

Davies is not having any of it, though he admitted he wouldn’t mind Belgium giving things a helping hand by beating Bosnia in Brussels on Thursday, a result that would mean Wales could draw in Nicosia and still qualify with a Sunday win over Israel.

The focus is on finishing the job, on making the most of the opportunity the start to the campaign has left them with – and making the most of the talents of the last Welshman to make the left-flank at White Hart Lane his own.


“He’s been phenomenal, we’re lucky to have someone like him as part of our squad,” said Davies of Bale.

“To have a player like him in you team comes along once-in-a-lifetime.

“We can clearly see how important he’s been for us in this campaign.

Will Wales have qualification sewn up after Israel?
YES
NO

“We know what he can do and if it means the rest of us have to feed him and he puts the ball in the back of the net then we’d happily do that if it gets us to the Euros.

“But it’s more than that – seeing someone like him willing to put the graft in for his country in every single game and the quality of the performances he is putting in then it’s ups everyone else’s game on the pitch. We want to be as good a team as possible; he sets the standards at that level and we’re all got to try and reach it and be as good as an XI as we can.”

Victories on Thursday in Nicosia, and Sunday in Cardiff, can take Wales beyond a boundary its football team has failed to breach for almost six decades and deliver a lasting legacy for Speed.

Chris Coleman will be in dreamland if Wales can finish the job and qualify for Euro 2016
Wales are in Cyprus for important Euro 2016 qualifier on Thursday
Coach Chris Coleman is expecting a robust challenge from opponents
Wales have an excellent chance of reaching first finals since 1958

Chris Coleman can imagine standing on the touchline leading a Welsh invasion at the Stade de France just as much as he can picture the faces of some supporters who will never truly accept his leadership.
But right now, the landscape is bright. A Cypriot sun beats down on the Wales manager and his nation are on the cusp of qualification for Euro 2016: top of Group B, three points ahead of Belgium.
With a match in Cardiff against Israel on Sunday to follow Thursday's fixture, Coleman knows two wins would complete the job and seal a first major tournament since 1958.

‘I do wonder what it would be like if we were playing in a full house at the Stade de France,’ Coleman said. ‘I was out there watching Belgium and France. I know what our fans are like; we would take thousands.
‘I can’t help thinking about it. I am a human being. But honestly I stop and think about the next game. I know how tough it is going to be.
‘I want to have that experience of being in a major tournament because then you are against the best.’
It is some turnaround from five minutes into this qualifying campaign, when Andorra took a shock lead in the Pyrenees. And remember the 6-1 defeat by Serbia in 2012. Coleman’s job has appeared brittle more than once.

Instead, the Welsh FA would like to tie him down to a contract that extends beyond next summer’s competition in France. He would welcome that, although returning to club management at some stage remains an ambition.
Meanwhile he finds it amusing that others are seeking credit for the run taking Wales to ninth in the world rankings, the team moving one place above England today as previous matches are dismissed from FIFA calculations.
Coleman refuses to name names but predecessors John Toshack and Bobby Gould have spoken on the issue. ‘I never saw anybody saying, “I am responsible for this” when we lost to Serbia. Now we are top and certain people want to take a stake. It doesn’t make me angry, it makes me laugh.’
Sometimes, his association with Swansea does him no favours with sections of the Welsh support.
‘I get the Swansea–Cardiff thing. I played in the fixture and 99 per cent of the time we walk around Cardiff and people come to have a chat. Some will never accept me, though. I find it quite sad.’


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... z3kcO93xJn

Wales/Cardiff City fans in Cyprus

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Victories on Thursday in Nicosia, and Sunday in Cardiff, can take Wales beyond a boundary its football team has failed to breach for almost six decades and deliver a lasting legacy for Speed.

Agree.

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone/sp ... /1.2366034

Wales boss Chris Coleman admits some fans will NEVER accept him despite Euro 2016 success


Thursday 3rd Sept 2015


BY JAMES NURSEY

Manager says his Swansea City links are always going to be a problem for Cardiff City fans and that others dislike him because he isn't Gary Speed


Coleman before the Gary Speed Memorial International Match between Wales and Costa RicaEU can do it: Coleman has worked wonders with Wales

Chris Coleman admits some Wales fans will always hate him despite taking the country to the brink of Euro 2016, writes James Nursey in Nicosia.

Unbeaten Wales top Group B ahead of Thursday’s crunch clash in Cyprus as they aim to make their first major finals since 1958.

But boss Coleman, 45, says succeeding the late Gary Speed, who committed suicide in November 2011, has been very challenging.

He reckons some Cardiff City fans still loathe him after playing for their arch-rivals Swansea City - his hometown club.

Coleman, in charge since January 2012, said: “A lot of people didn’t want me or like me. Gary was very popular and when I arrived here it was almost like, ‘We should have got him. We don’t like you.’

Gary Speed (Pic:Getty)Tragic loss: Gary Speed was popular with fans
“I think there is also the Swansea–Cardiff thing, so a lot of people will never like me.

"We have been to one or two places where there has been a element within the establishment who have been looking at me as if I have stolen their children or something.

“That is because of geography, and some people will never accept me. It’s quite sad.

“I get the Swansea–Cardiff thing. I played in the fixture and loved it but when I played for Wales and played with [Cardiff stars] Jason Perry or Nathan Blake I never saw them as blue and white and me as black and white.


“We were playing for Wales and it was all about getting a result. But some people will never ever deal with that and that is a shame for them.”

But if Wales reach France next summer, Coleman plans to stay on a new contract for a shot at World Cup qualifying.

He admitted: “If we qualify for France there is a much better possibility.”

Appx 3,500 Welsh fans have travelled

If we win both games this week are we through?

Wales can qualify for the Euro 2016 finals with the correct results against Cyprus and Israel in the next few days


Ashley Williams revealed the Wales squad has BANNED talk of Israel as they look to take a giant step towards Euro 2016 glory in Cyprus.

If we win both games this week are we through?

Yes

0 - 5 to Wales.

100-1. £1 on it.

Slightly ambitious.

Breaking news is Crystal Palace midfielder Joe Ledley is out of the Wales team tonight to face Cyprus through injury

Wales are above England in the Fifa rankings

As of today, we're 9th and they're 10th

Wales without Joe Allen and James Chester but James Collins and Ben Davies could return
Wales are 8/11 favourites to win the match

Disallowed goal Wales, very harsh decision.

Our full backs are playing terrible so far IMHO need to start passing the ball and not hoofing it!

HT = 0 : 0 .

Our full backs are playing terrible so far IMHO need to start passing the ball and not hoofing it!

They've got no option, we switch the ball and no midfielders are joining them, the basics have all been wrong so far.

Coleman needs to find a way to actually utilise our midfield or we won't be leaving with a win.

Allan and Ledley being missed badly here, they do the work nobody notices until it's missing.

How many more chances we going to waste?

How many more chances we going to waste?

hopefully not to many more, we havn't had alot

How many more chances we going to waste?

hopefully not to many more, we havn't had alot

Yeah, lets just dismiss Ramsey's near miss, Taylor's 1-on-1 miss, our wrongly disallowed penalty call and our wrongly disallowed goal is it?

It's like Cyprus have 20 players on the park when we have the ball

other than bale and ramsey they just don't seem to want to go forward

I'd take a draw now, thought we'd win this tonight but the ref is a kunt, the Cyprus players are kunts, the pitch is a kunt, bale looks off his game and we look tired. A draw would be decent now

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS OMFG

1-0

Get in there