' TONIGHT '
Tue Oct 13, 2015 8:57 am
Wales take on Andorra knowing their final Euro 2016 qualifying clash is a celebration for all involved
The final game at the end of a Wales qualifying campaign and once again it’s a dead rubber.
By Chris Watham
13/10/15
Only this time, no-one’s complaining.
It is easy to lose count of the number of times the national team have entered the last game of a group with eyes simply on building for the future.
Super Furry Animals will play before Wales v Andorra
Wales gets ready for a party... but boss Chris Coleman warns this is only the beginning
The big difference is, that future is now one that everyone believes in and can fully visualise rather than force themselves to cling to out of a mixture of hope, loyalty and optimism.
It is a future of fantastical reality.
The future is France, it is of Panini stickers with Wales stars now the subject of swapsies on the schoolyard.
It is of the themed chocolate bars and cola cans, of the whole hype of a major tournament and of a summer where no-one has to wonder what it would be like if Wales got there; if they ever got there.
It is one where Wales are on a stage that looked to be as unobtainable as it was alluring.
Gareth Bale and Wales prepare for the clash with Andorra
Welsh football set for 'biggest ever party' with Super Furry Animals and post-match 'surprises' lined up
Knowing that France will be awash with the rouge of Wales fans in eight months time is why tonight will be a party almost worth waiting 57 years to experience.
The anticipation is almost too much just as the emotion was too much for many fans tucked away in the corner of the Stadion Bilion Pjole in Zenica, the fall of the qualification curse causing tears to fall with it.
It’s understandable.
When Wales reached the finals in Sweden there was no European Championship and, like the other home nations, they had not entered the World Cup until 1950.
As much as we – rightly – still speak so fondly of the stars of that team, the years of hurt hadn’t preceded their achievement.
Indeed, Cliff Jones, the wonderful Tottenham winger of the time, still reels off his story of how he and Wales’ other Swansea-born stars returned home to be greeted by a train guard at the station asking where they had been, unaware of the World Cup taking place.
The final game at the end of a Wales qualifying campaign and once again it’s a dead rubber.
By Chris Watham
13/10/15
Only this time, no-one’s complaining.
It is easy to lose count of the number of times the national team have entered the last game of a group with eyes simply on building for the future.
Super Furry Animals will play before Wales v Andorra
Wales gets ready for a party... but boss Chris Coleman warns this is only the beginning
The big difference is, that future is now one that everyone believes in and can fully visualise rather than force themselves to cling to out of a mixture of hope, loyalty and optimism.
It is a future of fantastical reality.
The future is France, it is of Panini stickers with Wales stars now the subject of swapsies on the schoolyard.
It is of the themed chocolate bars and cola cans, of the whole hype of a major tournament and of a summer where no-one has to wonder what it would be like if Wales got there; if they ever got there.
It is one where Wales are on a stage that looked to be as unobtainable as it was alluring.
Gareth Bale and Wales prepare for the clash with Andorra
Welsh football set for 'biggest ever party' with Super Furry Animals and post-match 'surprises' lined up
Knowing that France will be awash with the rouge of Wales fans in eight months time is why tonight will be a party almost worth waiting 57 years to experience.
The anticipation is almost too much just as the emotion was too much for many fans tucked away in the corner of the Stadion Bilion Pjole in Zenica, the fall of the qualification curse causing tears to fall with it.
It’s understandable.
When Wales reached the finals in Sweden there was no European Championship and, like the other home nations, they had not entered the World Cup until 1950.
As much as we – rightly – still speak so fondly of the stars of that team, the years of hurt hadn’t preceded their achievement.
Indeed, Cliff Jones, the wonderful Tottenham winger of the time, still reels off his story of how he and Wales’ other Swansea-born stars returned home to be greeted by a train guard at the station asking where they had been, unaware of the World Cup taking place.
Re: ' TONIGHT '
Tue Oct 13, 2015 9:41 am
It will be a great night but please keep off the pitch, players are doing a lap of honour and we should all enjoy that from the stands...there is also the danger of banning orders and missing France.
Re: ' TONIGHT '
Tue Oct 13, 2015 12:02 pm
corky wrote:It will be a great night but please keep off the pitch, players are doing a lap of honour and we should all enjoy that from the stands...there is also the danger of banning orders and missing France.
Re: ' TONIGHT '
Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:17 pm
I simply cannot wait, Wales qualified Saturday my son was born Sunday the emotion is going to be overwhelming. Sign that anthem with pride boys, all the years of hurt and failure will be put to bed 