' MATCH THREAD " BELGIUM V WALES " MATCH THREAD '

' BELGIUM V WALES '

Chris Coleman's men find themselves top of Group B after wins against Andorra and Cyprus along with a draw against Bosnia.

Sunday 16th November 2014 kick off 5pm

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' WALES '

' WALES TEAM NEWS '

Line up

01 Hennessey
02 Gunter
04 Chester
06 Williams
03 Taylor
07 Allen
16 Ledley
10 Ramsey
11 Bale
09 Robson-Kanu
08 Cotterill

Substitutes
05 Davies
12 Williams
13 Dummett
14 Gabbidon
15 Huws
17 Lawrence
18 Ricketts
19 Matthews
20 Taylor
21 Ward
22 Collins


THE LIKELY LINE-UPS :

Belgium (4-3-3): Courtois (Chelsea); Vanden Borre (Anderlecht), Alderweireld (Southampton), Lombaerts (Zenit), Vertonghen (Tottenham, Capt); Witsel (Zenit), Dembele (Tottenham), Fellaini (Man Utd); Januzaj (Man Utd), Benteke (Aston Villa), Hazard (Chelsea).

Wales (4-4-1-1): Hennessey (Crystal Palace); Gunter (Reading), Chester (Hull), A Williams (Swansea, Capt), Taylor (Swansea); Allen (Liverpool), Huws (Wigan), Ramsey (Arsenal), Ledley (Crystal Palace); Bale (Real Madrid); Robson-Kanu (Reading).


' TEAM NEWS '


Saturday 15th Nov 2014


TEAM NEWS :

Belgium are without Steven Defour, Kevin Mirallas and Thomas Vermaelen while the hammer blow of Vincent Kompany’s absence with a calf tear adds to the worry of a weakened defence, Toby Alderweireld likely to move from right-back to the centre. The quality of Marc Wilmots’ squad means there are tight calls all over the pitch with Nacer Chadli, Kevin de Bruyne, Dries Mertens and Romelu Lukaku able to step into the side.

Wales have a relatively clean bill of health – only David Edwards, Andy King, Jonny Williams and Simon Church missing from the last camp – but Coleman is likely to stick with the players in the shirt in some cases meaning James Chester and Chris Gunter will keep out the fit-again James Collins and Adam Matthews while Ben Davies loses out to Neil Taylor. A 4-4-2 diamond is a possible option for Coleman with a compact midfield given width by attacking full-backs, Gareth Bale deployed behind Hal Robson-Kanu in attack.


Wed 12th Nov 2014

Wales boss Coleman has nearly a full complement of players to choose from, with only Jonny Williams having withdrawn


Wales,have a relatively clean bill of health with Bale coming through his first start for Real Madrid following injury to link up with the rest of the Wales squad at their Cardiff Bay base. At present only Ipswich midfielder Jonathan Williams is missing with all others from the 25-man squad named by Coleman involved in training sessions building up to Sunday’s clash.

Gareth Bale is fit

Among them is West Ham defender James Collins who has missed the last four Wales games through injury, including the home double-header last month where a draw with Bosnia and a win over Cyprus handed Wales their best start to a qualifying campaign in more than a decade and puts them top of Group B heading to the King Baudouin Stadium on Sunday.



' BELGIUM '

Wednesday 12th November 2014

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany WILL miss Belgium vs Wales due to calf injury

Vincent Kompany will miss Sunday's crunch qualifier between Belgium and Wales .


' Wales Squad:'

Wayne Hennessey (Crystal Palace), Owain Fôn Williams (Tranmere Rovers ), Danny Ward (Liverpool),

Ashley Williams (Swansea City), James Chester (Hull City), James Collins (West Ham United), Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Paul Dummett (Newcastle United), Neil Taylor (Swansea City), Sam Ricketts (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Chris Gunter (Reading), Adam Matthews (Celtic), Danny Gabbidon (Cardiff City),

Emyr Huws (Wigan Athletic), Joe Ledley (Crystal Palace), Joe Allen (Liverpool), Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal), Jonathan Williams (Crystal Palace - on loan at Ipswich Town), Lee Evans (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Hal Robson-Kanu (Reading), David Cotterill (Birmingham City), George Williams (Fulham),

Tom Lawrence (Leicester City), Jake Taylor (Reading), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)

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Belgium worries over Manchester City star Vincent Kompany deepen ahead of Euro 2016 qualifying clash with Wales
Nov 11, 2014

By Chris Wathan
The Manchester City skipper has stayed in the UK having been ruled out of his country’s friendly clash with Iceland on Wednesday over a torn calf


Wales’ hopes of causing a qualifying shock and maintaining their Euro 2016 charge could get a major boost as Belgium face a fitness scare over influential captain Vincent Kompany.

The Manchester City skipper has stayed in the UK having been ruled out of his country’s friendly clash with Iceland on Wednesday over a torn calf.

And the 28-year-old will have to wait until tomorrow before a scan will decide whether he can recover in time to face a Gareth Bale-inspired Wales in Brussels.

It is part of a growing injury concern for the group favourites who are already without West Brom left-back Sebastien Pocognoli and have doubts over reserve Jelle Van Damme and Laurent Ciman.

Wales, in a rare contrast, have a relatively clean bill of health with Bale coming through his first start for Real Madrid following injury to link up with the rest of the Wales squad at their Cardiff Bay base. At present only Ipswich midfielder Jonathan Williams is missing with all others from the 25-man squad named by Coleman involved in training sessions building up to Sunday’s clash.

Gareth Bale is fit

Among them is West Ham defender James Collins who has missed the last four Wales games through injury, including the home double-header last month where a draw with Bosnia and a win over Cyprus handed Wales their best start to a qualifying campaign in more than a decade and puts them top of Group B heading to the King Baudouin Stadium on Sunday.

The 31-year-old centre-back had a falling out with boss Chris Coleman at the tail-end of the last campaign after he allegedly refused to accept a late call-up having been left out of the initial squad and there has been some scepticism about the 45-cap international’s commitment again given he figured for his club side the first weekend after missing Wales duty.

But Coleman stressed he does not need convincing of the former Cardiff City and Aston Villa man’s want to play for Wales, revealing he was actually sent home from camp last month after discovering an injury.

“There are no concerns. He was here for the last camp. I knew he wasn’t fit, but he still came and travelled down. He had lunch with the players and I had a positive conversation with him.

“With the medical team we have now we make sure that we do the due diligence. We see the full reports and all the scans so we know it is not a squad he has pulled out of without a good reason because the evidence is there.

Chris Coleman urges his team forward

“He took the time to come down and he’s genuine about wanting to play. James knows himself in the past that fingers have been pointed at him for when maybe he hasn’t been here. But I don’t think that’s a problem now.

“We had a fall-out a while back but I had an open conversation with him and it’s fine. West Ham are flying and he has been a part of that.”

The Hammers are fourth in the Premier League with Collins having received praise for his role, but it remains to be seen whether Coleman will throw him back into a starting spot after seeing Hull’s James Chester develop an impressive partnership with captain Ashley Williams in his absence. Coleman has utilised Spurs’ Ben Davies when playing a flexible three-man central defence against Bosnia and could yet be tempted to go with the same set-up against Belgium.

Meanwhile, having been used to seeing injury and availability wreck their hopes of qualifying momentum in past campaigns, Wales will be counting their blessings they are not suffering the same fate as group rivals Bosnia. The group’s top seeds received a hammer blow with the news striker Edin Dzeko will miss their game with unbeaten Israel in Hafia, a calf problem also expected to keep the Manchester City star out of Swansea’s trip to the Etihad a week Saturday.


But they will also be Dzeko’s fellow frontman Vedad Ibisevic who is also on a injury list containing Avdija Vrsajevic, Tino-Sven Susic, Sead Kolasinac, Josip Kvesic and Sejad Salihovic.

Bosnia boss Safet Susic has failed to call-up a replacement striker and admitted they could go into the game with Israel – who have won away in Cyprus and Andorra from their two opening games – without a recognised forward in their formation. He said: “We are traveling to Israel with a severely depleted squad. Our objective is no longer to win, but to avoid a defeat and go into the spring portion healthy hopefully, and hope to win our remaining matches. That is the only option.”

1-0 Wales

I'm going for a 2-2 draw

2-1 wales away win

1.1 and a well earned point!

Nil nil

That looks a strong squad by Wales standard. If only we had a top striker!
Saying that we could definitely get a draw out there.
1-1

3-1 defeat unfortunately

1-0 Wales HT - 1-1 then a thriller finish by Bale to seal a 2-1 victory WALES. stay off the pitch !

1-0 Wales HT - 1-1 then a thriller finish by Bale to seal a 2-1 victory WALES. stay off the pitch !

Mallo, Does that mean your coming with us, you and Darcey?

2-0 Belgium. We have come on leaps and bounds but Belgium man for man has the most expensive side in world football. This may be a step too far, too soon. Id be jumping for joy with a point though and hope the Welsh fans remain realistic in the case of defeat.

1-0 Wales HT - 1-1 then a thriller finish by Bale to seal a 2-1 victory WALES. stay off the pitch !

Mallo, Does that mean your coming with us, you and Darcey?

Belgium I,m staying home -

Watford I can,t wait seems like forever. I not been and yes I know not been and sorry due to other commitments but we will be bouncing back and trueblooo better be sat in the toilet where he belongs

1-0 Wales HT - 1-1 then a thriller finish by Bale to seal a 2-1 victory WALES. stay off the pitch !

Mallo, Does that mean your coming with us, you and Darcey?

Belgium I,m staying home -

OOps Im on the wrong topic

Watford I can,t wait seems like forever. I not been and yes I know not been and sorry due to other commitments but we will be bouncing back and trueblooo better be sat in the toilet where he belongs

He does belong, I'm still ill and that Tan lover was able to take the piss all the way home

1-0 Wales HT - 1-1 then a thriller finish by Bale to seal a 2-1 victory WALES. stay off the pitch !

Mallo, Does that mean your coming with us, you and Darcey?

Belgium I,m staying home -

I heard you had a ticket for sale.

Friday - scotland 2 - 1 eire
Saturday timbuckfuck 3 -1 england
Sunday - belgium 1 - 1 Wales
Monday Liver transplant

2-1 to Belgium

Watford I can,t wait seems like forever. I not been and yes I know not been and sorry due to other commitments but we will be bouncing back and trueblooo better be sat in the toilet where he belongs

He does belong, I'm still ill and that Tan lover was able to take the piss all the way home

whats wrong ! you got heavy cold told you to have flu jab your getting

Belgium 3 Wales 0.

Wed 12th Nov 2014

Wales boss Coleman has nearly a full complement of players to choose from, with only Jonny Williams having withdrawn


Chris Coleman has outlined the new fitness framework that he hopes will see Wales avoid the club v country clashes that have threatened to derail past qualifying bids – and that have ensured Gareth Bale is on board for this week’s crunch clash in Belgium.

Bale trained yesterday with the rest of Coleman’s squad ahead of the weekend trip to Brussels with the Wales boss counting his blessings that his plans – so far – have not been undermined by the usual injury problems.

Indeed, with only on-loan Ipswich midfielder Jonathan Williams withdrawing from the original 25-man squad he named last week, it is instead Belgium who are left sweating on the fitness of key men with influential captain Vincent Kompany a major doubt for Sunday’s Euro 2016 qualifier, a torn calf placing the Manchester City centre-back among a number of defensive doubts for Red Devils coach Marc Wilmots.

2-0 Belgium. We have come on leaps and bounds but Belgium man for man has the most expensive side in world football. This may be a step too far, too soon. Id be jumping for joy with a point though and hope the Welsh fans remain realistic in the case of defeat.

Agree with that, unfortunately.

' CHRIS COLEMAN & PLAYERS CLUBS '

Tuesday 12/11/14

Coleman and the FAW have recognised the need for better relationships with clubs to ensure Wales are trusted with the fitness of their prized assets at all times – removing the worries of players being dissuaded from reporting for international duty.

Roy Keane recently claimed he was pressurised not to play for the Republic of Ireland while at Manchester United while England boss Roy Hodgson clashed with Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers over the fitness of Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling.

Gary Speed did much to try and improve relations with major clubs during his time as manager and successor Coleman has played his part, Bale’s presence despite only managing one start for Real Madrid since the last international camp a validation of his efforts.

Bale picked up a muscle injury on his return to Madrid after the energy-sapping games with Bosnia and Cyprus and was sidelined for three weeks – but the open dialogue between the clubs and Wales, on top of the vastly improved sports science backroom, have begun to pay dividends at the right time.

“I’ve never had a manager ring up and say ‘you can’t have him’,” explained Coleman. “If they’ve had an injury both medical teams get together and say to me, ‘These are the problems’.

“The big acid test is if he can train three days before we play – if they can’t, then we can’t take a risk and we won’t with any of them.

“We have tried to improve relationships. You can never be 100% sure what you are doing is paying off but I spent some time in Madrid with Carlo Ancelotti and he’s been great. When the Spanish press reported Gareth got injured with Wales he put that right. It’s good we have that honesty between us.

5-0

1-1

Wednesday 12th November 2014

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany WILL miss Belgium vs Wales due to calf injury

Vincent Kompany will miss Sunday's crunch qualifier between Belgium and Wales .

The towering Manchester City centre back has been suffering with a calf injury and was left out of the Premier League draw against QPR on Saturday before being withdrawn from tonight's friendly against Iceland.

Belgium boss Marc Wilmots had hoped to have his star man fit for Sunday's match in Brussells but tonight confirmed that won't be the case and that Kompany will be out of action for 10 days.

Kompany had stayed in the UK for a scan which today confirmed Belgian fears that he would miss the Euro 2016 Group B showdown.

Chris Coleman's Wales still have a relatively clean bill of health and are only missing Ipswich midfielder Jonathan Williams from the 25-man squad named for Sunday’s clash.

Forecast -

Dry with the chance of an occasional shower

Loads of Bluebirds and Wrexham fans there but as usual no Jack Pussies

Belgium 1 Wales 2 (Rambo and Bale)

5-0

Bale hat trick and 2 for Rambo? - I like your positivity

' CHRIS COLEMAN & PLAYERS CLUBS '

Tuesday 12/11/14

Coleman and the FAW have recognised the need for better relationships with clubs to ensure Wales are trusted with the fitness of their prized assets at all times – removing the worries of players being dissuaded from reporting for international duty.

Roy Keane recently claimed he was pressurised not to play for the Republic of Ireland while at Manchester United while England boss Roy Hodgson clashed with Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers over the fitness of Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling.

Gary Speed did much to try and improve relations with major clubs during his time as manager and successor Coleman has played his part, Bale’s presence despite only managing one start for Real Madrid since the last international camp a validation of his efforts.

Bale picked up a muscle injury on his return to Madrid after the energy-sapping games with Bosnia and Cyprus and was sidelined for three weeks – but the open dialogue between the clubs and Wales, on top of the vastly improved sports science backroom, have begun to pay dividends at the right time.

“I’ve never had a manager ring up and say ‘you can’t have him’,” explained Coleman. “If they’ve had an injury both medical teams get together and say to me, ‘These are the problems’.

“The big acid test is if he can train three days before we play – if they can’t, then we can’t take a risk and we won’t with any of them.

“We have tried to improve relationships. You can never be 100% sure what you are doing is paying off but I spent some time in Madrid with Carlo Ancelotti and he’s been great. When the Spanish press reported Gareth got injured with Wales he put that right. It’s good we have that honesty between us.

I read somewhere that Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers are stopping Harry Wilson from representing Wales.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9t5Wun96Mw


The score 1-1