I was looking through the lineup of Welsh players and saw they have some good players (Giggs, Bellamy, Savage, etc.) and was wondering why don't they do better in qualifying? I guess they almost made the Euro '04 but got screwed. Just curious.
Wales hasn't qualified for the World Cup since 1958. There have been some great players in the past such as John Toshack leading up to Giggs, etc. Cardiff City is the best team in Wales and doesn't play in the Football League of Wales as they are good enough to play in the English Football League Championship. However, there's no denying that football in Wales is eclipsed by Rugby (and in Cardiff by the ice hockey team Cardiff Devils). Soccer has taken a back seat, although Wales internationals at the Millennium Stadium attract capacity crowds and this is the home of the FA Cup! As I now live in the US, I don't get to see Walws play too often but in recent years it has been grim. I saw (on BBC Wales) Holland beat Wales 7-1 in World Cup 98 qualification, then watched them lose 2-0 to the US in 2003.
There not a bad team, though not superb either. They've got a few PRmeirship players including big names like Giggs and Bellmay, but they also have to draw quite a few of their players from the Championship. The reason they don't do better is because qualifiyingfrom the UEFA region is and always has been extremely difficult, qualifying for the European Chmapionship isn't a lot easier. If you look at their qualifying group they were the fourth best team and only one team qualified automatically with the runners-up possibly ahving to face a play-off.
Lack of depth in their squad... Having a few very good EPL players is not enough to qualify from the UEFA region... it's as simple as that.
recently we had the highest average attendance of any team in europe 65000+ sadly a pre world cup game v paraguay only drew 9000 i travelled from london for it mind
wales beat san marino 3-0 in the eurocup quallifying round http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6493687.stm
you dont get awards for beating san marino Wales are simply not very good at football they only have a few decent players at any given time and right now their very low on them theyve got Giggs who is quite old now bellamy and thats really it for high quality footballers. Ireland-v-Wales ended 1-0 to ireland and we are rubbish right now wales played SO badly they couldnt put a pass together and had one chance in the whole game they have the same problem as ireland do. the welsh FA arent investing in welsh football or taking it seriously they need to focus on their domestic leagues.
Wales big chance came in 1994 when they had their best team in decades. Giggs was up and coming and the team also, I believe contained many good veterens such as Neville Southall, Mark Hughes, and Ian Rush. But they blew it on the final day, needing a win against Romania - they missed a penalty and went on to lose 2-1. They've never had much of a team since then and with the exception of a couple of premiership stars, have had to rely heavily on players from lower level clubs. They did come close to Euro 2004 but lost the playoff with Russia.
Football is eclipsed in Cardiff by ice hockey?! Hahaha! What have you been snorting mate?! And rugby is only bigger in Wales for one month a year - during the Six Nations. But to answer the original question, we're not very good.
Still looking through your lineup, your team isn't that bad, not as bad as is said here on this thread, your lineup is full of EPL and Championship players. Is it possible you don't have a good manager to fully utilize your players' skill? For instance, look at Northern Ireland, their lineup isn't any worse or better than Wales in my opinion, but they are at the top of their table right now. But it seems to me that Lawrie Sanchez is a good manager fully utilizing the talent available. I don't know but something to throw out there for the Welsh fans who do know more than me.
Lack of depth + Toshack + Duffy = predictably, rather crap. But yes, the manager should take a lot of the blame, with the resources Wales have in terms of players, they should be much tougher to beat. Even Staunton 'masterminded' a win against him. Pish. Duffy in that Slovakia game as a right wingback was one of the worst I've ever seen - and having watched Leicester many times, thats a huge achievement.
Inept management, lack of depth (a few really good players, some steady Premiership pros, and often somebody from League One), and we've been desperately unlucky over the years. We've fallen at the final hurdle several times. 2004, 1994, 1986, 1978, etc. It also doesn't help half the public simply doesn't care. Rugby's the national game.
Well I'd be ecstatic if half the public didn't care here in the US, our domestic league barely gets a mention in the national media, and that's not a exaggeration. Soccer here in the US gets maybe 15% of the public caring. Anyway, my point is I understand what you are saying, but I don't think massive consensus support automatically equals a better team. You could make the argument that it hurts in some instances.
Darren Ward quits international stage http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6616409.stm
Hells teeth, you guys must pssst that you have to come from behind twice to snatch a 2-2 draw at home againest our long travelled All Whites (in all blue) that were missing 7 frontline players. Although I suspect that you would prefer to beat our All Black rugby side instead in the coming World cup.
I never actually got to see this match... but saw the hilights on youtube from Tv3 news. I'm glad that the lads put in a fine effort. Hopefully some of the newbies will get recognized and clubs make some offers. Go the All Whites!!
The USA has 300 million people. Wales has 3 million people. If Wales beat New Zealand in the World Cup, we would all atomise into pure ecstasy. Trust me, you have no idea how much most Welsh people want to beat NZ.
Which explains why Cardiff City can attract more fans for a football match against Colchester United, Burnley, Plymouth Argyle or [insert name of another no-mark team here] in England's second highest division than the Cardiff Blues can in one of the top five leagues in Europe against the European champions, right? I don't mean to urinate all over this thread's abundant array of Welsh sporting stereotypes and, quite frankly, bizarre statements here, but the average attendances in Cardiff last season, off the top of my head and being somewhat generous to the three non-beautiful sports, were something along the lines of football - 15,500, rugby - 8,000, ice hockey - 1,500 and cricket - 1,000. Similar figures will be found forty miles west in the City of the Caravan Dwellers, except they don't have an ice hockey team. Now, does the fact that the football team pulls in easily more than the three other sports combined tell us anything at all about what Wales' 'national game' truly is? If you want to know why we're bad and always have been, then it's simple. We have a tiny population.
Thats not always the case look at the balkan nations compared to Russia now days. Bulgaria Serbia Croatia (Romania not so small but still small compared to big countries) Greece Macedonia Bosnia Albania all have very competitive teams some better and more succesful than others in bigger stages. Look at switzerland and Austria and their succes they have had as small nations. It comes down to the responsibilities of the federation of each nation. How much they invest in the domestic leagues (Fields, training facilities, stadiums, televizing etc.) Lack of interest in the sport is the lack of talent produced. Look at Russia's downfall in the last decade or so. How about china with a billion plus people cant make a superstar team and will loose to Wales one of the smallest nations in Europe who I think do have very talented players. What u need is what Albania needs a good leader in the federation and an experienced coach that can mold together a team.
LoL. Yes Holland and Denmark are two european countries i have in mind that are way better than the population volume would suggest and it does come down to the system and coaching infrastructure of those countries. Of course the country's economic wealth and distribution is a factor too.
No, there are other factors (weather, a country's general infrastructure, interest in football, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera), but we generally have all those things pretty much going for us. Population is the only thing buggering us over.
Yup, the whole notion of rugby being "the national game" is bollocks. The four regional teams are probably watched by about the same amount as both football clubs combined. Pretty much every rugby international is a sellout but the vast majority of those people don't go week in week out. As for why we don't do very well - we always seem to have a few experienced top flight players mixed with players from Division2/3, and annoyingly we do have a habit of failing at the last hurdle. At the moment all the old players who took us to the playoffs for Euro 2004 have retired and we're left with a very young team. It doesn't help that we're always in the 4th/5th pots for the draws either, so we're always in groups with Italy or Germany or Czech Republic etc.
I went to a Welsh language school in Wales and Soccer was not allowed at all only Rugby. That is how crap the place is in that respect soccer wise. Plus soccer is considered the sissy game and Rugby isn't. A lot of people I remember watching local rugby sides but local soccer not so much. So that holds things back a bit. I hated Rugby more because I was made to play it otherwise it is a fine game not my thing. In my time there there are more soccer fans though by far and i would guess an hell of a lot more people play soccer than Rugby as well. On every street corner not just in teams. Here in Florida I go and play just for fun now and maybe it is the weather but most of the fields here are much nicer condition than the crap we played on in Wales but there are much more fields and free space in Wales though. I'm sure the guys still living there know more about it than me now. I hope we do qualify for a WC in the future so until then I'll stick to just USA soccer.