Wales show promise at Wembley despite defeat

I have to admit I was slightly torn when England defeated Wales 1-0 at Wembley last night.

I am a born and bred Englishman but have Welsh grandparents.

Half of me was hoping that Wales could have snatched an equaliser and the other half of me was hoping they wouldn’t.

If Wales striker Robert Earnshaw hadn’t missed an absolute open goal, Wales could have been heading home with a point after a really good performance from the visitors.

Mockery

I wrote an article a few weeks ago about how FIFA’s world ranking was wrong and last nights game proved it. England are currently ranked 4th in the world, while Wales are ranked 117th in the world. This game proved how silly those rankings really are.

Wales really did push England close and not just because the Three Lions were poor either. England did play poorly but Wales started to look like a real danger in the second half.

Building

Wales boss Gary Speed is starting to get his ideas across and his team played some good football at times at Wembley. He is obviously building a very promising young side. The former-Leeds and Everton midfielder has already admitted he is planning for the World Cup qualifiers next year, so these European Championship games are a good chance for experimentation.

Young

The Wales side which played against England was a very young one, with an average age of just 24 years of age. The likes of the game against England will bode these young players in good stead for future international clashes.

In the end they very nearly claimed a very creditable draw with Capello’s men but it wasn’t to be. Maybe they are currently just lacking a real goalscorer, which Robert Earnshaw is known for. Unfortunately the Cardiff City striker fluffed his lines on the big occasion.

Quality

Gary Speed has a very small group of players to chose from but the country has managed to produce some top class young players. The biggest players being Aaron Ramsey, who at just 20 is the countries youngest ever captain and Tottenham winger Gareth Bale.

Both these players are players capable of playing at the top level of football. The fact that they play for Premier League Arsenal and Tottenham at club level shows that they are quality players.

In fact Gareth Bale is regarded as one of the hottest properties in European football. Bale proved his quality in some superb displays for Spurs in the Champions League last season.

Young Arsenal midfielder Ramsey was awarded the man of the match for his display against the England midfield. With the likes of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas now gone from Arsenal Ramsey has became an important figure in the Gunners engine room.

If Speed can build a team around these two players then his team could have a chance of qualifying for future tournaments. He will also need a few more of his young players to step up but from the last two performances Wales are heading in the right direction.

Progression

Some Wales fans have questioned whether Gary Speed was the man to move the countries national team forward. However in the last two games the Dragons have showed that the team is starting to look like progressing.

If I was a Welsh football fan I would be very encouraged by the teams recent displays. Welsh Football had stagnated slightly before Speed took over and the displays of the national team were poor. Slowly but surely Speed is changing that.

Maybe in a couple of years the Dragons may be capable of challenging for a competitive tournament. The Welsh football fans have been starved of success for too long and its time they had a national team they can be proud of.

Is the Welsh national team progressing under Gary Speed?