Euro 2016 Championships
Date: Friday, 1st July 2016
Time: 20:00 BST
Venue: Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille
Live Stream: Watch Euro 2016 Live Online
Last time when Wales were in the quarterfinals of a major tournament, it was in 1958 World Cup. A 17-year-old Pele scored his first goal for the Selecao to end Wales’ dream run. It has taken 58 years for the nation to find themselves back into a major competition again.
If they lose against Belgium, they will go back to their nation as heroes. They will receive a warm welcome. But Wales are not thinking of returning home early. Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale says Wales are the Belgians’ “bogey team” and that he is confident of beating Marc Wilmots’ side on Friday.
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During the Euro qualifiers, Wales went to Brussels and earned a hard fought 0-0 draw. When the two sides met again at the Cardiff City in June 2015, Bale scored the only goal in a 1-0 win. Surely, Bale has every reason to feel confident about. Bale is 11/2 with Ladbrokes to score the opening goal of the match.
“We know we have done well and the country is proud of us even if we do get knocked out,” Bale said prior to the match. “But we want to keep going, we want to keep riding this wave. We want to go as far as we can and try to win the tournament.”
Wales have a fully fit squad to choose from but Chris Coleman is sweating on the fitness of captain Ashley Williams who picked up a shoulder injury in the 1-0 win over Northern Ireland.
We all know Belgium have a world class star-studded squad but somehow one gets the feel that Marc Wilmots hasn’t been able to get the best out of his players. But considering how the draw has panned out, Belgium now stand as one of the hot favourites to win the trophy. The Red Devils are 4/5 with Ladbrokes to win the match against Wales.
Belgium suffered a 2-0 defeat in their opening game against Italy but they have bounced back strongly winning next three games on the trot, including a 4-0 win against Hungary that put them into the last eight.
Thomas Vermaelen is suspended for this game after he picked up his second booking in Belgium’s last game on Sunday.
Wilmots has a big decision to make as to who partners Toby Alderweireld at the heart of defence. Jan Vertonghen is the obvious choice but throughout the tournament the Spurs defender has been used as a left-back. In such a scenario, Jason Denayer could come in as centre-back though he has dropped the pecking orders and remains to be seen whether Wilmots is ready to expose him in front of a pacy forward like Bale. Romelu Lukaku’s brother Jordan Lukaku might get a surprise call-up at left back.
Chelsea’s Eden Hazard suffered a minor injury against Hungary but he is fit enough to play. Radja Nainggolan to once again start in midfield while Manchester United’s Fellaini is likely to miss out.
Possible Wales starting line-up: Hennessey, Chester, Williams, Davies, Taylor, Ramsey, Ledley, Allen, Gunter, Bale, Vokes
Possible Belgium starting line-up: Courtois, Vertonghen, Denayer, Alderweireld, Meunier, Nainggolan, Witsel, Hazard, Bruyne, Mertens, Lukaku
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