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Post by conwy10 on Mar 24, 2022 11:50:07 GMT
Is anyone else starting to get nervous already? I've been on pins since I woke up.
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Post by dai on Mar 24, 2022 11:59:23 GMT
Is anyone else starting to get nervous already? I've been on pins since I woke up. Strangely enough, I'm not nervous at all at the moment. |
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Post by insertname on Mar 24, 2022 12:05:09 GMT
Not around in 94? That was the first proper Wales game I watched, it’s fair to say World Cup qualification has become something of a holy grail for me ever since! But this time round it’s tempered by being in such a bloody awful location at a bloody awful time of year! It was too early for me too. I would have been 6 in 94, the Russia one was huge for me. I can still picture that Russia goal perfectly in my head. Yeah that was a killer too. It felt like there was so much complacency, during the campaign when we missed out on top spot and celebrated a play off like we had won the World Cup and then I went to Russia on the red arrow travel chartered plane and on the way back the captain put out a message to all the Wales fans saying that we got a great result and we’ll qualify and that echoed the mood amongst the fans that the hard work was done avoiding defeat in Russia and that we were bound to get a result and qualify. Then when we lost! Coming out of the stadium my mate went to shake the hand of some Russian lads and I struggled to do the same, he had a go at me and called me a bad loser and he was right, I was. It hurt so much back in those days though. |
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Post by insertname on Mar 24, 2022 12:12:19 GMT
Is anyone else starting to get nervous already? I've been on pins since I woke up. Strangely enough, I'm not nervous at all at the moment. It’s not a big game for me personally. Qatar in British winter is a truly awful concept and it’s hard for me to get excited about it. For Wales to qualify would be the achievement. Being at the finals is somewhat pyrrhic. I wish we had qualified for Russia, the last summer 32 team tournament. That was the big one, for me. |
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Post by njdragon on Mar 24, 2022 12:14:10 GMT
This has to go down as one of the biggest if not the biggest qualifier in my lifetime. We have to keep our heads no silly mistakes/bookings early on. Not around in 94? That was the first proper Wales game I watched, it’s fair to say World Cup qualification has become something of a holy grail for me ever since! But this time round it’s tempered by being in such a bloody awful location at a bloody awful time of year! No just at the end of the bobby Gould era for me which led into the Russia play off games. Those were the big ones. At that time i never thought id ever see us qualify for anything - especially when tosh came in and we went backwards in so many ways. |
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Post by allezlesrouges on Mar 24, 2022 12:19:43 GMT
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Post by allezlesrouges on Mar 24, 2022 12:20:17 GMT
Is anyone else starting to get nervous already? I've been on pins since I woke up. Strangely enough, I'm not nervous at all at the moment. Same, feeling quite excited to be honest. I think I'll feel nervous as soon as a ball is kicked |
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Post by insertname on Mar 24, 2022 12:33:28 GMT
Not around in 94? That was the first proper Wales game I watched, it’s fair to say World Cup qualification has become something of a holy grail for me ever since! But this time round it’s tempered by being in such a bloody awful location at a bloody awful time of year! No just at the end of the bobby Gould era for me which led into the Russia play off games. Those were the big ones. At that time i never thought id ever see us qualify for anything - especially when tosh came in and we went backwards in so many ways. Yeah, those Tosh years were when my hope started to die. He seemed to shoot himself (and us) in the foot at every opportunity and the FAW didn’t seem bothered about removing him. Dark times. Although arguably he did lay the foundations for the later success- it was just hard to see at the time. |
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Post by conwy10 on Mar 24, 2022 12:42:01 GMT
Strangely enough, I'm not nervous at all at the moment. It’s not a big game for me personally. Qatar in British winter is a truly awful concept and it’s hard for me to get excited about it. For Wales to qualify would be the achievement. Being at the finals is somewhat pyrrhic. I wish we had qualified for Russia, the last summer 32 team tournament. That was the big one, for me. Although it's not the best World Cup we still would have done it. We can't knock ourselves for the choices of others. It's for FIFA to hang their heads in shame, not us. |
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Post by conwy10 on Mar 24, 2022 12:45:16 GMT
It was too early for me too. I would have been 6 in 94, the Russia one was huge for me. I can still picture that Russia goal perfectly in my head. Yeah that was a killer too. It felt like there was so much complacency, during the campaign when we missed out on top spot and celebrated a play off like we had won the World Cup and then I went to Russia on the red arrow travel chartered plane and on the way back the captain put out a message to all the Wales fans saying that we got a great result and we’ll qualify and that echoed the mood amongst the fans that the hard work was done avoiding defeat in Russia and that we were bound to get a result and qualify. Then when we lost! Coming out of the stadium my mate went to shake the hand of some Russian lads and I struggled to do the same, he had a go at me and called me a bad loser and he was right, I was. It hurt so much back in those days though. To be honest I got caught up in all the hype too. Going away to Russia and bringing back a quality result, just couldn't do it at home. I did think we can't do it with Giggs, Bellamy, Davies, Koumas can we ever qualify. I had no idea Bale, Ramsey and Allen were just around the corner. |
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Post by iot on Mar 24, 2022 12:54:28 GMT
Cabango was never going to play anyway. Back three will be Mepham - Rodon - Davies Ampadu possibly in midfield or instead of Mepham. My guess would be Roberts - Mepham - Rodon - Davies - Neco Allen - Ampadu Ramsey Bale - James Yes, I think that's what he'll go for and it's what I'd go for too! The Mepham situation isn't ideal, but it's the best option we have. I probably would have had Cabango on the bench, but agree with Jim - I'd be far more nervous with Cabango. Mepham has more of a bad rep because there have been some high profile mistakes in his wales career, but I'm almost certain if Cabango had played the same amount there would be far more examples! Mepham's also used as a scapegoat a lot, and his good performances are glossed over. He played 3 of the last 4 for example and was very good overall, particularly against Belgium. |
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Post by insertname on Mar 24, 2022 13:43:51 GMT
It’s not a big game for me personally. Qatar in British winter is a truly awful concept and it’s hard for me to get excited about it. For Wales to qualify would be the achievement. Being at the finals is somewhat pyrrhic. I wish we had qualified for Russia, the last summer 32 team tournament. That was the big one, for me. Although it's not the best World Cup we still would have done it. We can't knock ourselves for the choices of others. It's for FIFA to hang their heads in shame, not us. Yeah that’s what I meant- the qualification is the challenge in and of itself. The choice of place is pretty bad but for me having to move it to Christmas is just unforgivable. Can you imagine being down the pub at the same time as a load of Christmas shoppers/office Christmas party types watching a World Cup? In a way it would feel very “Wales” to finally get there and it’s not the same summer experience (although we have had that in the Euros admittedly). |
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Post by insertname on Mar 24, 2022 13:45:09 GMT
Yeah that was a killer too. It felt like there was so much complacency, during the campaign when we missed out on top spot and celebrated a play off like we had won the World Cup and then I went to Russia on the red arrow travel chartered plane and on the way back the captain put out a message to all the Wales fans saying that we got a great result and we’ll qualify and that echoed the mood amongst the fans that the hard work was done avoiding defeat in Russia and that we were bound to get a result and qualify. Then when we lost! Coming out of the stadium my mate went to shake the hand of some Russian lads and I struggled to do the same, he had a go at me and called me a bad loser and he was right, I was. It hurt so much back in those days though. To be honest I got caught up in all the hype too. Going away to Russia and bringing back a quality result, just couldn't do it at home. I did think we can't do it with Giggs, Bellamy, Davies, Koumas can we ever qualify. I had no idea Bale, Ramsey and Allen were just around the corner. Yeah we had a mental team in those days. And yet I don’t think we had the belief to think we could finish top, with the way it panned out and how we settled for second in the group and then lost the play off. |
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Post by conwy10 on Mar 24, 2022 14:32:08 GMT
Although it's not the best World Cup we still would have done it. We can't knock ourselves for the choices of others. It's for FIFA to hang their heads in shame, not us. Yeah that’s what I meant- the qualification is the challenge in and of itself. The choice of place is pretty bad but for me having to move it to Christmas is just unforgivable. Can you imagine being down the pub at the same time as a load of Christmas shoppers/office Christmas party types watching a World Cup? In a way it would feel very “Wales” to finally get there and it’s not the same summer experience (although we have had that in the Euros admittedly). 🤣 yeah very Wales to miss out on a summer extravaganza and instead we'll be cheering in Wales with our shirts over our jumpers and coats. |
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Post by conwy10 on Mar 24, 2022 14:35:27 GMT
To be honest I got caught up in all the hype too. Going away to Russia and bringing back a quality result, just couldn't do it at home. I did think we can't do it with Giggs, Bellamy, Davies, Koumas can we ever qualify. I had no idea Bale, Ramsey and Allen were just around the corner. Yeah we had a mental team in those days. And yet I don’t think we had the belief to think we could finish top, with the way it panned out and how we settled for second in the group and then lost the play off. I do think though if we got drew in a group of Italy, Serbia, Wales, Finland? And Azerbijian it'd seem a pretty solid group. I think beating Italy sometimes makes that campaign a little more than it was, especially by today's standards. |
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Post by welshrover on Mar 24, 2022 14:48:02 GMT
Yeah we had a mental team in those days. And yet I don’t think we had the belief to think we could finish top, with the way it panned out and how we settled for second in the group and then lost the play off. I do think though if we got drew in a group of Italy, Serbia, Wales, Finland? And Azerbijian it'd seem a pretty solid group. I think beating Italy sometimes makes that campaign a little more than it was, especially by today's standards. To be honest I think the turning point in that qualification was the bloke getting murdered. We were on a roll, Serbia and Montenegro were in disarray, when the game got played a few months later the roles had been reversed. And to this day I can't understand the decision to pick Nathan Blake above Ernie in Belgrade. |
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Post by conwy10 on Mar 24, 2022 16:49:00 GMT
I do think though if we got drew in a group of Italy, Serbia, Wales, Finland? And Azerbijian it'd seem a pretty solid group. I think beating Italy sometimes makes that campaign a little more than it was, especially by today's standards. To be honest I think the turning point in that qualification was the bloke getting murdered. We were on a roll, Serbia and Montenegro were in disarray, when the game got played a few months later the roles had been reversed. And to this day I can't understand the decision to pick Nathan Blake above Ernie in Belgrade. Who was murdered? I was still young then so a bit oblivious to anything outside the matches. |
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Post by welshrover on Mar 24, 2022 17:24:04 GMT
To be honest I think the turning point in that qualification was the bloke getting murdered. We were on a roll, Serbia and Montenegro were in disarray, when the game got played a few months later the roles had been reversed. And to this day I can't understand the decision to pick Nathan Blake above Ernie in Belgrade. Who was murdered? I was still young then so a bit oblivious to anything outside the matches. He was some high ranking Serbian FA bloke from memory which meant the game was postponed and played about three months later. |
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Post by insertname on Mar 24, 2022 17:25:54 GMT
I do think though if we got drew in a group of Italy, Serbia, Wales, Finland? And Azerbijian it'd seem a pretty solid group. I think beating Italy sometimes makes that campaign a little more than it was, especially by today's standards. To be honest I think the turning point in that qualification was the bloke getting murdered. We were on a roll, Serbia and Montenegro were in disarray, when the game got played a few months later the roles had been reversed. And to this day I can't understand the decision to pick Nathan Blake above Ernie in Belgrade. Yeah that always gets over looked when we talk about bizarre events that thwarted Welsh football- I recall at the time the original game was to be played we had a fully fit squad and then come the re-arranged date we weren’t in such good shape and then had the Italy game straight after which we wouldn’t have had initially. And yeah, Earnie was badly used by Hughes |
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Post by insertname on Mar 24, 2022 17:27:52 GMT
Who was murdered? I was still young then so a bit oblivious to anything outside the matches. He was some high ranking Serbian FA bloke from memory which meant the game was postponed and played about three months later. Iirc he was a Serbian politician rather than an FA member and it was felt the game should be postponed out of respect to the situation. |
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Post by foxmulder on Mar 24, 2022 17:28:20 GMT
Argh this is the most nervous I've been since Belgium home 2015.
I fucking hate football.
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Post by conwy10 on Mar 24, 2022 17:37:45 GMT
He was some high ranking Serbian FA bloke from memory which meant the game was postponed and played about three months later. Iirc he was a Serbian politician rather than an FA member and it was felt the game should be postponed out of respect to the situation. I just googled it. Zoran Djindjic. Prime minister of Serbia and Montenegro. I can honestly say I'd never heard of this. |
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Post by iot on Mar 24, 2022 18:30:40 GMT
Oh shit, no can accuse Page of bottling it - he's starting wilson in midfield! Poor Joe Allen is going to have his work cut out tonight!
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Post by melynwy on Mar 24, 2022 18:42:22 GMT
Oh shit, no can accuse Page of bottling it - he's starting wilson in midfield! Poor Joe Allen is going to have his work cut out tonight! Crikey. Is this the day for Ampadu to become Beckenbauer?! He may well need to do double duty and step into midfield. |
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Post by conwy10 on Mar 24, 2022 19:24:41 GMT
Really attacking lineup. We look weak in the middle though.
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Post by rushy on Mar 24, 2022 19:40:32 GMT
Cmon boys !!!
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Post by rushy on Mar 24, 2022 19:55:37 GMT
Shaky start.
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Post by robin1864 on Mar 24, 2022 19:55:38 GMT
Both teams going for it, we're very lucky Austria aren't 1-0 up after that killer pass though.
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Post by bale-droed on Mar 24, 2022 20:04:59 GMT
Looks like Page will have have to change his tactics ...uh oh
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Post by insertname on Mar 24, 2022 20:09:24 GMT
The ref is a twat
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