WELSH FANS & Full Match Report " Belgium v Wales "

Belgium 1 - 1 Wales: Aaron Ramsey earns Wales superb late draw in Brussels
15 Oct 2013

The Arsenal man struck a late goal as Wales got their rewards after a wonderful display of resilience against Belgium in the final World Cup qualifier


Aaron Ramsey struck a late equaliser to stun Group A winners Belgium in Brussels and boost Wales manager Chris Coleman’s hopes of keeping his job.

Wales had shown brave resistance but they looked to be subsiding to another defeat when Kevin De Bruyne seized on an error from debutant James Wilson to fire Belgium ahead.

But skipper Ramsey was picked out by Craig Bellamy, on his 78th and final Wales appearance, and slid the ball under Thibaut Courtois to earn the visitors a hard-earned point.

This could prove to be Coleman’s last competitive game in charge of Wales, with his contract effectively up after next month’s friendly against Finland and talks of a new deal having stalled.

He has certainly given Football Association of Wales chiefs plenty of food for thought by beating Macedonia and earning a point in Belgium with a squad ravaged by injury and missing the likes of Gareth Bale, Joe Allen and Ashley Williams.

But Scotland’s win over Croatia means Wales finish a lowly fifth in Group A, and the FAW will have to decide whether some fleeting moments of promise merit another chance for the 43-year-old.

Few had given Wales any chance of spoiling Belgium’s World Cup qualification party but they built on a solid start.

They had an early chance when Ramsey’s reverse pass found Andy King, but his pull-back did not quite reach Hal Robson-Kanu.

Belgium enjoyed their own spell of pressure, with Kevin Mirallas failing to find a team-mate after his Everton colleague Romelu Lukaku had beaten James Collins to a flick-on.


Belgium1 - 1 Wales

Lukaku then forced Wayne Hennessey into his first save on 15 minutes after Kevin De Bruyne had put the forward away, while at the other end Robson-Kanu skewed wide after a driving run from Ramsey.

Mirallas fired wide after nipping in ahead of Collins to meet a Toby Alderweireld centre, but with Ramsey pulling the strings Wales were posing attacking questions of their own.

But they survived a major scare seven minutes before the break.

Alderweireld flicked the ball over two defenders before getting away a volley which deflected off Collins and rattled the bar, before Mirallas fired wide following up.

Hennessey then could not hold a De Bruyne shot before Lukaku headed inches wide from Sebastien Pocognoli’s teasing cross.

Robson-Kanu fired tamely at Thibaut Courtois as Wales responded, before having a decent penalty appeal turned down on half-time when Simon Church went over in the box under Daniel Van Buyten’s tackle.

Belgium piled on further pressure after the break with Thomas Vermaelen firing wide from Lukaku’s pass.

Welsh hopes suffered a blow as Collins limped off with an ankle problem and Cheltenham’s Wilson came on to win his first cap in his place.

But the visitors continued to battle gamely, and Ramsey and Church combined to engineer a shooting opportunity for David Vaughan, whose effort was deflected over the bar.

Belgium introduced Eden Hazard in place of Nacer Chadli and the Chelsea man almost made an instant impact as he picked his way past several defenders only for Hennessey to save with his legs.

De Bruyne finally broke Welsh resistance in the 65th minute pouncing on a defensive error from debutant Wilson to fire low into the bottom corner.

But Wales rallied and Courtois just about kept out a glancing header from substitute Sam Vokes and a shot from Vaughan during a goalmouth scramble from a Ramsey free-kick.

Coleman then handed 16-year-old Harry Wilson a first cap to make the Liverpool winger the youngest player to ever represent Wales, and within seconds of his introduction the visitors levelled.

Bellamy, with his last telling contribution for his country, picked out Ramsey and the Arsenal man slotted calmly under the keeper to earn Wales a draw against the odds.

WELSH FANS IN BRUSSELS

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Great support, 1600 travelled apparently

Boycott Wales.

Boycott Wales.

Well done Wales and Cookie after some staunch criticism. Couldnt realistically have asked for more than 4 points in our last 2 games. Onwards from here

Boycott Wales.

Well done Wales and Cookie after some staunch criticism. Couldnt realistically have asked for more than 4 points in our last 2 games. Onwards from here

Boycott Wales.

Why don't you do us all a great, big favour and jump off a cliff?

Boycott Wales.

You're reason is ridiculous IMO, will you still boycott if we qualify for the next euros? doubt it!

Well done Wales.....and good on the fans who travelled.
My one gripe.....that is the worst shirt I've seen a welsh player pull on.
Who designs these shirts....looked like a bad rugby shirt to me.

Boycott Wales.

Well done Wales and Cookie after some staunch criticism. Couldnt realistically have asked for more than 4 points in our last 2 games. Onwards from here

All well and good in the last 2 games when no one us really playing for anything. Plus we finished below scotland, total embarrassment. Coleman needs to go for every1s sake he sucks and has no tactical nous.

Boycott Wales.

Well done Wales and Cookie after some staunch criticism. Couldnt realistically have asked for more than 4 points in our last 2 games. Onwards from here

All well and good in the last 2 games when no one us really playing for anything. Plus we finished below scotland, total embarrassment. Coleman needs to go for every1s sake he sucks and has no tactical nous.

The only time we really won games under Speed was at that "end of campaign" stage and under Toshack we couldnt even do that.

Hes the best option available to us.

Boycott Wales.

Well done Wales and Cookie after some staunch criticism. Couldnt realistically have asked for more than 4 points in our last 2 games. Onwards from here

All well and good in the last 2 games when no one us really playing for anything. Plus we finished below scotland, total embarrassment. Coleman needs to go for every1s sake he sucks and has no tactical nous.

The only time we really won games under Speed was at that "end of campaign" stage and under Toshack we couldnt even do that.

Hes the best option available to us.

Well if we cannot beat a Macedonia team at home then something is really wrong, my Sunday league team could beat them.

Best option? I beg to differ. You ever heard of a guy named tony pulis? He got stoke to the prem on a shoestring budget and kept them there comfortably for 7 odd seasons. The footy might not be attractive but he knows his stuff unlike that useless turd coelman.

Boycott Wales.

Well done Wales and Cookie after some staunch criticism. Couldnt realistically have asked for more than 4 points in our last 2 games. Onwards from here

All well and good in the last 2 games when no one us really playing for anything. Plus we finished below scotland, total embarrassment. Coleman needs to go for every1s sake he sucks and has no tactical nous.

The only time we really won games under Speed was at that "end of campaign" stage and under Toshack we couldnt even do that.

Hes the best option available to us.

Well if we cannot beat a Macedonia team at home then something is really wrong, my Sunday league team could beat them.

Best option? I beg to differ. You ever heard of a guy named tony pulis? He got stoke to the prem on a shoestring budget and kept them there comfortably for 7 odd seasons. The footy might not be attractive but he knows his stuff unlike that useless turd coelman.

We have failed to beat teams such as macedonia for as long as i can remember, its not something that coleman has brought in.

Pulis would be one of the worst choices we could possibly make. He has spent €135 million in 7 seasons bringing in a specific type of hoofball merchants that bypasses the midfield and works of the targetman.

Our best players are in midfield and dont have a decent targetman. Im afriad that appointment makes as much sense as tans debt to equity.

Boycott Wales.

Well done Wales and Cookie after some staunch criticism. Couldnt realistically have asked for more than 4 points in our last 2 games. Onwards from here

All well and good in the last 2 games when no one us really playing for anything. Plus we finished below scotland, total embarrassment. Coleman needs to go for every1s sake he sucks and has no tactical nous.

The only time we really won games under Speed was at that "end of campaign" stage and under Toshack we couldnt even do that.

Hes the best option available to us.

Well if we cannot beat a Macedonia team at home then something is really wrong, my Sunday league team could beat them.

Best option? I beg to differ. You ever heard of a guy named tony pulis? He got stoke to the prem on a shoestring budget and kept them there comfortably for 7 odd seasons. The footy might not be attractive but he knows his stuff unlike that useless turd coelman.

We have failed to beat teams such as macedonia for as long as i can remember, its not something that coleman has brought in.

Pulis would be one of the worst choices we could possibly make. He has spent €135 million in 7 seasons bringing in a specific type of hoofball merchants that bypasses the midfield and works of the targetman.

Our best players are in midfield and dont have a decent targetman. Im afriad that appointment makes as much sense as tans debt to equity.

or we could employ someone who isnt welsh?

Coleman aside, it's funny how we always pull our socks up and get results in the last couple of qualifying games when it's too late...

That said though, we did well to do so with so many players missing.

Hopefully now we can get a few friendies over the next few months and build on it. It'll be good to get the majority of our squad back and try and get them to play to their potential.

ITS ALWAYS ONWARDS FROM HERE

ITS ALWAYS ONWARDS FROM HERE

Agree , a saying that oaf toshack got away with for years. The draw against a Belgium team who have already qualified shouldn't gloss over this campaign for Coleman . 10 points from a group including Macedonia who everyone should be beating is not acceptable . Time to go

I came back this morning, a great atmosphere in the stadium.
Brussels is not a place I would recommend though.
There seems to be some hope after last night and Bale to come back

Boycott Wales.

You're reason is ridiculous IMO, will you still boycott if we qualify for the next euros? doubt it!

Depending on who the captain is I would continue to boycott.

Boycott Wales.

Well done Wales and Cookie after some staunch criticism. Couldnt realistically have asked for more than 4 points in our last 2 games. Onwards from here

All well and good in the last 2 games when no one us really playing for anything. Plus we finished below scotland, total embarrassment. Coleman needs to go for every1s sake he sucks and has no tactical nous.

The only time we really won games under Speed was at that "end of campaign" stage and under Toshack we couldnt even do that.

Hes the best option available to us.

Toshack won 42% of the games he managed with Wales

John Toshack, 2004-10 54 games Won 22, drew 8, lost 24

Boycott Wales.

Well done Wales and Cookie after some staunch criticism. Couldnt realistically have asked for more than 4 points in our last 2 games. Onwards from here

All well and good in the last 2 games when no one us really playing for anything. Plus we finished below scotland, total embarrassment. Coleman needs to go for every1s sake he sucks and has no tactical nous.

The only time we really won games under Speed was at that "end of campaign" stage and under Toshack we couldnt even do that.

Hes the best option available to us.

Well if we cannot beat a Macedonia team at home then something is really wrong, my Sunday league team could beat them.

Best option? I beg to differ. You ever heard of a guy named tony pulis? He got stoke to the prem on a shoestring budget and kept them there comfortably for 7 odd seasons. The footy might not be attractive but he knows his stuff unlike that useless turd coelman.

We beat them the other day, 1-0. Simon Church scored the goal.