Gareth Bale and Wales Focus on Getting House in Order Before World Cup – When England was ousted from Euro 2016 after a humiliating defeat to Iceland, Wales reveled in their misery, rejoicing at their hotel base in Dinard. A video of Wales’ players jumping for joy and huddling together as England’s players fell like dominoes went viral.
England’s relegation from the Nations League is incomparable, and Wales, 67 days before their final Group B encounter at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, were never going to consider a repeat of those scenes, which got mixed reviews.
England has gone five games without a win, while Wales has gone four, but the latter are in a decent position before facing Poland on Sunday, buoyed by a superb second-half performance in Thursday’s defeat to Belgium, who is ranked second in the Fifa rankings. Then there’s the journey to Qatar and the first World Cup in 64 years on the horizon.
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Wales’ first Group B opponent, the USA, have also not been convinced of late and slipped to defeat to Japan on Friday but Gareth Bale is not reading too much into their rivals’ recent hiccups. “People will up their games, players might not be playing well but in two months’ time they’ll be playing better,” Bale, the Wales captain, says.
Rob Page, the Wales manager, watched England’s defeat to Italy with his staff in Cardiff and is flying to Spain next week to watch USA take on Saudi Arabia in their final warm-up match. Ultimately, however, he knows Wales have to get their own house in order. “I’m surprised in how the group has panned out,” Page says of England, who entertain Germany at Wembley on Monday.
“They were up against a very good Italian team who could have scored a couple of more goals. You’re always surprised when England don’t do so well because of the expectations they have put on themselves over the years but that’s for them to worry about and deal with now.” “We’ve got a job in hand that we’re fully focused on. As soon as the final whistle has gone we’ll be preparing for the World Cup.”
Page will have to make at least two changes for the visit of Poland, with Ethan Ampadu and Chris Mepham both suspended, with Bale likely to return to the starting lineup. Page assures there will be no surprises when the teams are read aloud at Cardiff City Stadium one hour before kickoff.
Bale has yet to play 90 minutes since joining Los Angeles FC in the summer, but he believes he is nearing peak fitness. “I am closer than I have been in the last few years, for sure,” Bale says. “It’s about playing minutes and games and I’m starting to do that a lot more often now. The more I play, the fitter I’ll get. Hopefully, I can start to peak and get stronger and stronger as quickly as possible.”
Bale’s condition has been aided by regular dialogue between LAFC and the Football Association of Wales’ medical team. The Wales physio, Sean Connelly, was invited to Los Angeles within a week of Bale moving stateside. “They have a great relationship and they’ve both reached out to each other to make sure communication is good and what I’m doing are the correct things and not things I shouldn’t be doing,” Bale says.
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“The FAW have always done what’s best for me and what I need so I suppose it’s a good thing they’ve got a great relationship already.” Wales is last in Nations League Group 4 League A and needs to overcome Poland to stay in the top tier. The apparent caveat to their situation is that they were playing with one hand tied behind their back in June due to what turned out to be a historic World Cup playoff win over Ukraine. Wales’ disappointment at a narrow defeat in Brussels demonstrates the camp’s confidence.
“We are playing against big teams every week now and we’re always competing with them,” Bale says. “We’re always in the games and that can only be a testament to us. We’re definitely on the right trajectory, we’re definitely improving and that is the direction we want to continue to go in.”
