Wales suffer Bale setback

Wales have suffered a major blow with the news that Gareth Bale will miss Saturday’s Euro 2012 qualifier against England.

Bale, 21, has been forced to withdraw from the squad for the Group G match at the Millennium Stadium due to a hamstring problem.

The left-sided winger is believed to have been carrying the issue since playing for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur against West Ham United last Saturday.

It was his first full 90 minutes since returning from a back injury suffered in January.”Due to a hamstring problem, Gareth Bale has had to withdraw from the Wales squad to face England on Saturday,” the Football Association of Wales said in a statement.

“He felt tight last week during training with his club. After playing 90 minutes on Saturday he felt some muscle tightness.”

“Initially, this was expected to be muscle soreness after playing his first game.”

“On joining up with the Welsh squad he was kept off his feet in training for two days to recover.”

“As he still felt tight in the warm-up on Tuesday, Gareth was pulled out of the session. He did not train at all on Wednesday and was sent for a scan. The scan revealed that Gareth Bale picked up his injury last week.

“The loss of Bale will be keenly felt by Gary Speed’s young team. Wales are bottom of the group after suffering three losses from three matches played so far in their qualification campaign.

Bale has returned to Tottenham for further assessment. He is expected to be fit for Spurs’ next match away to Wigan Athletic on April 2, as well as the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid three days later.