Tuesday 21 June 2016

Day Eleven in France

Oh, to be in Toulouse last night! Wales crushed Russia with a performance that must rank with the very best this tournament has seen so far. The victory meant Wales topped the group as England could not break down a Slovakian defence intent on getting a point that should take them through as well.


Everything went right for Wales against Russia. Gareth Bale had easily his best game so far thanks to a Russian team who offered little and didn't seem to be able to cope with him running at them. Alongside Bale, Aaron Ramsey - arguably Wales' best player so far - ran the show alongside Joe Allen and it was those two who linked up for the first goal after only ten minutes.

Allen spotted the early run by Ramsey and split the accommodating Russian defence with an inch perfect pass. Ramsey coolly lifted it over the advancing keeper and Welsh nerves began to abate.

Ten minutes later a powerful run from Bale was only stopped by a Russian boot inadvertently playing Neil Taylor through on the left hand side. The Swansea defender took two attempts to score his first ever goal for Wales and Russia looked dead on their feet.

As well as Wales played, Russia were awful. Their centre back pairing had a combined age of 70 but the way they played you wouldn't have been surprised if you were told that was their individual age. Wales could have been four or five up by half time and were playing some lovely football cheered on by a noisy and exuberant crowd.

Bale finally got the goal he deserved with just over 20 minutes to go when Ramsey once again split the Russian defence before the Real Madrid man stuck it past Akinfeev with the outside of his left boot.

Wales will now play one of the best third place sides and will be hoping that the tournament's top goal scorer - Gareth Bale - will continue his goal a game form to take them even further in the competition.


Roy Hodgson made a whole host of changes for the match against Slovakia and although some of them had been called for - Vardy and Sturridge playing from the start - it was a strange decision to upset the cohesion in the team however admirable the belief in his squad was.

Both full backs were replaced with Clyne and Bertrand starting. Clyne looked very good and he is only unlucky that Kyle Walker has had such as good tournament so far or he could well be expecting to play in the next game.

Obviously I can only judge the England performance from the highlights but their finishing really let them down - especially from Vardy and Sturridge. With Slovakia content to defend for the first half, England found it hard to get clear shots on goal but the chances that did come their way were wasted.

The second half saw Slovakia come out a little bit more but it was still largely one way traffic. Vardy seemed to disappear as the game went on and Slovakia could have picked up a very unlikely victory had Hamsik made more of Smalling's error when heading it back to his keeper.

A 0-0 draw was met with a few boos at the end of the match but England still go through to the next round unbeaten. This is a better squad than they have had in a while but Hodgson seems unsure who to play and where to play them. They now have a week's rest before their second round match so maybe he can work it out on the training ground between now and then.

Other things I noticed yesterday...

  • Sam Vokes played really well, occupying the Russian defenders to give Bale space to run with the ball. He should probably start in front of Robson-Kanu or Johnny Williams in the next game
  • Igor Akinfeev seemed to be the only one to go over to the Russian fans at the end of the game. By the look of it they were telling him exactly what they thought of the side's abject performance
  • England have the expanded tournament format to thank for their next fixture. Although by finishing second they would have qualified even if there was only 16 teams, they would have previously faced a group winner. Now they get a fellow runner up (although it could well be Portugal)
  • A plea to all English TV reporters: Please, please, please stop interviewing Eric Dier. He may well be having a pretty good tournament but he rivals Michael Owen for the mantle of most boring man ever


A plethora of matches today as both Group C and D come to a close. Poland have been disappointing so far but if Milik continues to get in the right positions he must find his shooting boots soon. It could be today and I'll go for 2-0 against Ukraine.

Northern Ireland could go through even if they lose today, which is good as they are playing Germany. The Germans failed to kick on from their opening match win but should be too good today - I'm going for 3-1.

Croatia will be thinking that they will need something from their game against Spain to make sure of at least second place in the group. They are both already through but it will be interesting to see how Croatia react to the crowd-related incidents of their last match. Spain, without being back to their world beating best have looked comfortable so far but I think it will finish 0-0.

Turkey have looked woeful in both matches with a real lack of invention or innovation. The Czech Republic will be buoyed by their comeback against Croatia and I can see them winning easily today - 2-0.

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