The Welsh youngsters were outstanding last night and the start of this new era is something to be excited about. What does the future hold?
https://behindthegoal16.wordpress.co...en-generation/
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The Welsh youngsters were outstanding last night and the start of this new era is something to be excited about. What does the future hold?
https://behindthegoal16.wordpress.co...en-generation/
A good write-up, but Hal Robson-Kanu has retired from international football.
i said last night to my daughter, this team could go on and better the euro 16 team, maybe not the semi's but the consistency and qualifying for majors more often
It was a really pleasing offensive performance, but I can't stand this while golden generation talk. It's all about selling headlines rather than anything else. Looking forward to seeing everyone develop and inspiring another generation behind them.
Yes let's not get too carried away.
Denmark are back to full strength for their game against us so let's see how we do.
ROI were pitiful
There certainly already looks like there are enough players for next 6 years without needing anymore to come through.
I think the qualities of the likes of Bale may never be seen again not only is he one of the best players in the world his attitude is perfect as is the position he plays.
Does make me wonder how much previous team under achieved considering some of the players
Let's see how we line up on Sunday, now that we have cunningly capped every player that needed to be tied down :biggrin:
Who is in our group for the next euro qualifiers? Can’t recall it
Must be soon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKmZ811jea0
:hehe: :biggrin: :hehe:
The draw for the EURO qualifiers (MAR-NOV) will be on 2nd December 2018 in Dublin.
I would say no.
That was my first thought - I'm not expecting anything similar to Thursday in today's match and would gladly settle for a draw. However, on further thought, I'm beginning to change my mind.
First thing to say is what constitutes a "golden generation"? England were supposed to have had one that was going to win the World Cup in 2006 - Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney et al were most definitely not a golden generation! I only became interested in the Welsh rugby team in the late sixties when players like Edwards, John, Davies (Gerald and Mervyn) and Williams burst on to the scene and formed the basis of a Lions team which went to the home of the best there was around then and beat them - for me Wales had a golden generation in rugby around half a century ago.
Eleven years ago, I can remember Wales Under 21s beating France 4-2 at Ninian Park on their way to giving England an almighty fright in the Play Offs - it felt like I was watching the start of something special that night and, when you look at the names in that French squad, it brings home just what an impressive win it was;-
http://www.skysports.com/football/wa...ance-u21/92225
I'd say six of those Welsh players have made significant contributions to the Welsh senior side, as has Andy King who came into the team for the matches against England - add in Wayne Hennessey, Chris Gunter, Joe Ledley and Dave Edwards, who were all emerging at that time, and the teenage Gareth Bale who had virtually by passed the under 21s on his way into the full squad and you can see why this generation were often given the "golden" treatment.
If you look at Welsh football history, then I would argue that reaching the Semi Finals of a major tournament entitles Bale and co for "golden generation" qualification, but did they ever do anything to a decent full international team like the current generation did to Ireland on Thursday?
The game which sprang to mind for me was this one;-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...es/6985879.stm
However, while there are a few of the "golden generation" dotted about among the squad, it consists primarily of older players and the inspiration for the big win came from a brilliant performance from the 28 year old Craig Bellamy.
I can't think of any other possible answer to that question I asked, so, with four of the current group of youngsters in a starting line up which also included twenty four year olds Ben Davies and Tom Lawrence, two more being brought on from the bench and Ben Woodburn and Harry Wilson, both of whom have made big impacts already for the senior side, not required on this occasion, I'd say the current group have already done something that the "golden generation" from around a decade ago never managed.
Excellent post.
I'll should point out that in those line ups v France U21's, Owain Fon Williams is down as playing centre back :hehe:
I think the definition of a "golden generation" would be something like "a team of the same age group that achieves success". How that success is decided will be varied. Spain's golden generation would have to win the World Cup or Euro's, for us a semi-final appearance will more than suffice.
This new group of players obviously haven't achieved anything yet, but on Thursday night's showing, this group of players are going places. Ampadu will captain Wales for years when he hits his early twenties and I couldn't be more sure about that.
In recent years, we have only seen a couple of players added to squads but not become regulars - Tom Lawrence didn't play in the 2016 qualification campaign until the final match v Andorra, George Williams never featured in that campaign after the 4th game in November 2014 and hasn't played a competitive match since.
Players like Declan John, Adam Henley, Emyr Huws, Jonny Williams, Paul Dummett, Jake Taylor, Gwion Edwards weren't breaking into the team when they were all 22 or under - it was only Ben Davies from that crop who was able to hold down a place in the 11.
By comparison, David Brooks, Ethan Ampadu, Harry Wilson, Chris Mepham, Connor Roberts, Ben Woodburn could all comfortably challenge for a spot in the starting 11 for Wales. Tyler Roberts, Matthew Smith, Tom Lockyer, Joe Rodon, Dan James etc. will all be good backups for the time being. Add in the slightly older players 25 or under - Ben Davies, Tom Lawrence, Lee Evans, Declan John, Danny Ward, Emyr Huws, Jonny Williams and that is a great bunch of names to see listed.
We haven't had this for 8+ years, when Bale, Ramsey, King, Gunter, Allen, Collison Ledley (though he made his debut in 2005!), Vokes, Robson-Kanu, Church, Edwards, Taylor, Blake, Matthews etc. were put together with the slightly older heads of Bellamy, Gabbidon, Vaughan, Earnshaw, Collins, Ricketts, Williams, Crofts.
If this team doesn't qualify for EURO 2020 and the 2022 World Cup I will be gobsmacked. We took Ireland apart in that first half on Thursday like I've never seen a Wales side do before. The bigger test is Denmark tonight and I can't wait to see how the game turns out.