' MATCH THREAD ' " ANDORRA V WALES " ' MATCH THREAD '

ANDORRA V WALES
Euro 2016 Qualifiers
Tuesday 9th September 2014

FT - ANDORRA 1-2 WALES

1-2 Gareth Bale 83mins
1-1 Gareth Bale 22mins
1 nil Andorra Lima pen 6mins


This is how Wales line up tonight:

Hennessey; Gunter, Chester, Williams(Capt), Davies; Allen, Taylor, King, Ramsey, Bale; Church.







TEAM NEWS
Wales have no fresh injury concerns following the withdrawals of Adam Matthews, Sam Ricketts and James Collins on top of the long-term absence of Sam Vokes.

Emyr Huws has missed training this week with an ankle complaint but is fit, while Joe Ledley has trained as normal in recent days after sitting out sessions at the start of the week.



THE LIKELY LINE-UPS
Wales (probable, 4-3-3):  Wayne Hennessey (Crystal Palace), Chris Gunter (Reading), James Chester (Hull City), Ashley Williams (Swansea City, capt), Neil Taylor (Swansea City), Joe Ledley (Crystal Palace), Joe Allen (Liverpool), Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal), Andy King (Leicester City), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), George Williams (Fulham)

Andorra (4-2-3-1):  Ferran Pol (FC Andorra), Jordi Rubio Gomez (UE Santa Coloma), Emil Garcia (Pennoise), Ildefons Lima (FC Santa Coloma, capt), Marc Garcia (Rubi), Marcio Viera (Atletico Monzon), Marc Vales Gonzalez (Real Zaragoza B), Christian Martinez (FC Santa Coloma), Peppe (FC Andorra), Sergio Moreno (Gzira United), Gabriel Riera (FC Santa Coloma)



Coleman has handed Bale a role up front against minnows Andorra as he looks to start the Euro campaign with a bang

Wales kick off their bid to finally end their finals heartache later – with Chris Coleman telling Gareth Bale to go and attack the campaign from the off.

Coleman’s side take on minnows Andorra in tonight’s Group B opener with a win a must if the hope of making it to Euro 2016 is to be realised over the next two years.



Ben Davies will be a key man for Coleman as Wales start their Euro 2016 campaign against Andorra, Coleman has stated Davies will only get better and has a great future



They start their Euro 2016 qualification campaign against Andorra on Tuesday, and there's been plenty of talk about this finally being the moment Wales qualify for a major tournament.

Gareth Bale, Joe Allen, Ashley Williams and Aaron Ramsey form the backbone of Chris Coleman's side with expectations sky high this season.



Euro 2016: Wales and Gareth Bale WILL play on 3G pitch as Andorra surface finally passes inspection


' ANDORRA '

Andorra have played 118 international matches winning three, drawing 11 and losing 104.

Only one of the three wins was in a competitive match.

andorrawales.png

Without a competitive win since 2004, Andorra will look to make a breakthrough as they meet Wales for the first time in UEFA EURO 2016 Group B.

Andorra will take on Wales for the first time in their opening UEFA EURO 2016 Group B game, looking to end their four-year wait for a competitive goal – and maybe their ten-year wait for a competitive win.

Match Facts

• Andorra have not scored in 18 competitive games since a 3-1 loss to the Republic of Ireland in UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying on 7 September 2010. Cristian Martínez was the player who scored that goal.

• They have lost their last 44 competitive games since a 0-0 draw against Finland on 3 September 2005 – a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

• Andorra have not won in 51 competitive fixtures since a 1-0 success against the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in World Cup qualifying on 13 October 2004.

• Andorra have yet to avoid defeat in 40 UEFA European Championship qualifiers since first competing in the UEFA EURO 2000 preliminaries.

• The nations' five meetings in UEFA age-group tournaments have all ended in Welsh wins, with an aggregate score of 14-0.

• Welsh and Andorran sides have yet to meet in UEFA club competition.

Wales Squad

Wayne Hennessey - Crystal Palace
Kyle Letheren - Dundee
Owain Fon Williams - Tranmere Rovers

James Chester - Hull City
Ben Davies - Tottenham Hotspur
Paul Dummett - Newcastle United
Chris Gunter - Reading
Declan John - Cardiff City
Danny Gabbidon - Cardiff City
Neil Taylor - Swansea City / Dinas Abertawe
Ashley Williams - Swansea City / Dinas Abertawe

Joe Allen - Liverpool
Emyr Huws - Wigan Athletic
Andy King - Leicester City
Joe Ledley - Crystal Palace
Aaron Ramsey - Arsenal
David Vaughan - Nottingham Forest

Gareth Bale - Real Madrid
Simon Church - Charlton Athletic
Tom Lawrence - Leicester City
Jake Taylor - Reading
George Williams - Fulham
Jonathan Williams - Crystal Palace

UEFA European Championship records: Andorra

History
2012 – did not qualify
2008 – did not qualify
2004 – did not qualify
2000 – did not qualify

Qualifying win
N/A

Qualifying defeat
7-0: Croatia v Andorra, 07/10/06

Overall appearances
33: Óscar Sonejee
31: Manolo Jiménez
30: Koldo Álvarez
27: Josep Ayala
26: Justo Ruiz
25: Txema Garcia

Overall goals
1: Justo Ruiz
1: Jesús Lucendo
1: Emiliano González
1: Antoni Lima
1: Julià Fernández
1: Fernando Silva
1: Cristian Martínez

UEFA European Championship records: Wales

History
2012 – did not qualify
2008 – did not qualify
2004 – did not qualify
2000 – did not qualify
1996 – did not qualify
1992 – did not qualify
1988 – did not qualify
1984 – did not qualify
1980 – did not qualify
1976 – did not qualify
1972 – did not qualify
1968 – did not qualify
1964 – did not qualify
1960 – did not participate

Qualifying win
7-0: Wales v Malta, 25/10/78

Qualifying loss
5-0: Georgia v Wales, 16/11/94

Overall appearances
29: Gary Speed
25: Neville Southall
24: Craig Bellamy
24: Ryan Giggs
23: Ian Rush

Overall goals
7: Ian Rush
5: Gareth Bale
5: Craig Bellamy
5: Simon Davies
5: Dean Saunders
5: John Toshack

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Quality Owain

My Guess Andorra 0 Wales 3

Andorra 0-4 Wales

0-5!! We should be slaughtering Andorra.

0-1 Eric Young last minute ! !

I have a bad feeling about this one . We never do well in small country's , we haven't had a warm up match to get the team playing together , small plastic pitch in a small stadium .

I think it will be a tight game with us struggling to break down a team who will pack the defensive area .

If we don't score early it will be a long hard slog

If we do the score early the end result could be anything

Wales to edge past 1-0 IMO

0-2 and on to the next one

4-0 Bale x2 Ramsey and Ashely Williams

4-1 Wales

0-5!! We should be slaughtering Andorra.

Not sure Wales could score 5 past the Quins!
You're right though we should do.

Well Im hoping that Wales realise the importance of goals scored/goal difference in this championship - so I am going for a 9-0 win for Wales.

..... and I plan to have a fiver on 7-0, 8-0 and 9-0

I'll go for 3-0 Wales

0-5!! We should be slaughtering Andorra.

Not sure Wales could score 5 past the Quins!
You're right though we should do.

Yeah we'll more than likely scrape by 1-0, i know that the gap isnt as big as it used to be but if we have any ambition of eventually getting out of a qualifying group we should be putting these teams to the sword.

3-1 Wales - 0-0 half time

im going for 7 nill

You European Championship facts are incorrect!!
Wales reached the Quarter Finals of the European Championship in 1976 loosing to Yugoslavia at Ninian Park. We were robbed by some very dubious decisions. There was crowd trouble and had to play home games a number of miles away from Cardiff hence why we played Scotland later that year at Anfield (Joe Jordan's hand ball etc). There were no 'finals' help in a particular country that year.

5-0 wales bale - 3 Ramsey - 1 church - 1

2=0 Wales win

Any Wales win will do

bale hatrick and wales 6 0 win rambo and chief 2

My guess is 6-0 or 7-0 Wales

http://viewfromthestands9.wordpress.com ... alse-dawn/

I'll go with Andorra 0-4 Wales

[quote][/quote] Wales did qualify in 1976 got to the Quarter- final

They start their Euro 2016 qualification campaign against Andorra on Tuesday, and there's been plenty of talk about this finally being the moment Wales qualify for a major tournament.

Gareth Bale, Joe Allen, Ashley Williams and Aaron Ramsey form the backbone of Chris Coleman's side with expectations sky high this season.

My only worry with this current welsh squad is the lack of decent strikers
We are going to have to rely on our midfield to score goals
Our current strikers are not good enough for the championship never mind internationals

4-0 wales.

Here's the problems:

No keeper, only one centre back, no right winger and only one forward (.... that's if you play Bale up front).

But yeah, other than that we should be golden.

European qualifiers: Gareth Bale convinced Wales can make 2016 finals

07/09/2014

Gareth Bale: Confident Wales can deliver

Gareth Bale is convinced Wales' new generation can deliver major tournament football for the first time since 1958.

Bale will be in the line-up when Wales take to an artificial pitch in Andorra on Tuesday for their opening European qualifier.

And the presence of the Real Madrid superstar and Aaron Ramsey in the squad has raised hopes of a first trip to a major finals since they came up against a teenage Pele at the Sweden World Cup.

v
Live Euro 2016 Qualifiers
Andorra vs Wales
September 9, 2014, 7:00pm


Belgium and Bosnia and Herzegovina are Group B rivals ranked higher than Chris Coleman's side, but the new 24-team finals format means a third-placed finish will guarantee at least a play-off place.

And Bale said: "We feel we have a great team that's now been together for a while, and we're full of confidence. The fact that more teams can qualify this time around just adds to that sense of confidence.

"We're young, but we've been together now for five, six or seven years. We all feel we're at that stage where we really need to start producing. Hopefully the time is right and we can kick on and qualify for major tournaments.

"We have to be confident, otherwise there's no point in us being here. We feel we have a good team, that we're playing good football.

"We have the right staff around us and everything is in place now for that to happen. The main thing now is that we have to do the job on the pitch."

Ben set to earn his Spurs at Tottenham says Wales manager Chris Coleman as Davies gets used to life at White Hart Lane
Sep 07, 2014

By Chris Wathan

Ben Davies will be a key man for Coleman as Wales start their Euro 2016 campaign against Andorra


Chris Coleman has backed Ben Davies to earn his Spurs at Tottenham and become the No.1 left-back at White Hart Lane.

Davies made a headline-grabbing move from South Wales to North London this summer when the Neath-born talent was involved in a £10m-valued swap.

He became new Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino’s first signing as part of the former Southampton chief’s attempts to force the Premier League giants’ way back into Champions League football contention, leading a lengthy chase to lure him away from boyhood club Swansea.

Yet, heading into Tuesday’s Euro 2016 qualifying kick-off against Andorra, Davies is yet to start a Premier League game for Spurs having seen Danny Rose keep the shirt from last year.

And with former friendly rival Neil Taylor making the most of his chance back at the Liberty, the 21-year-old could yet find himself back on the bench.

But national boss Coleman – who handed Davies his international breakthrough – has backed the ten-cap star to show his worth at Tottenham having made the move from Swansea to the bright lights of London as a youngster himself.



'This is what it's like to play with a £90m player!' Chris Gunter takes YOU inside the Wales camp

Let's seize the day! Real Madrid star Gareth Bale targets Euro 2016 qualification with Wales

Coleman was a kid at hometown club Swansea before being snapped up by Crystal Palace, and after Davies’ Spurs switch, Coleman said: “I think Ben will end up being their first choice.

“It is not always easy when you have a big move. Ben is a Swansea boy and we don’t tend to be great travellers when we are young.

“But he is a top player and a great lad, he will settle in there.

“Danny Rose has not done anything wrong, but all players have a bad day, and when he does and Ben gets his chance we know he is good enough.

“Mauricio Pochettino knows his stuff, he would not have spent all that money on him otherwise.

“It may take him time but I have no doubts he will make it work and play a lot of games for Tottenham.”

at end of day we need to score goals and keep scoring as other teams will be trying to do same, this game is where you boost goal difference for every team!