“We’ve finally got into a major tournament”.
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This defeat will only slightly subdue Wales’s celebrations after qualifying for their first ever European Championships and, should Bale keep fit, they might just make an impression in France.
Coleman, a former Fulham, Real Sociedad and Coventry boss, has endured a few dark days in the Wales job since taking over from Gary Speed following his predecessor’s suicide four years ago.
Wales have qualified for Euro 2016, despite defeat to Bosnia.
“The best defeat of my life!” said Welsh inspiration Gareth Bale, the world’s most expensive player, after learning that the Israel result had sent his team into next year’s tournament.
“It’s always nice to get on the scoresheet, obviously with the circumstances as well after the brought it back to 1-1”.
Now he wants to play again tomorrow on Tuesday in Wales’ final Group B game at home to Andorra in Cardiff, which is set to be a carnival atmosphere.
“I think we had opportunities where, even though we did come from behind, we dominated periods of the game and created lots of chances, so it did feel a little bit like two points dropped”. The turnaround means they must get a better result against table-toppers Belgium in Brussels than Bosnia can manage away to Cyprus.
Wales’ only previous tournament appearance came at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden when they qualified through the back door. “It was a hard game but at the end of the day all that matters is qualifying”, Bale told Sky Sports.
Chris Coleman’s men fell to a 2-0 loss in Sarajevo thanks to Milan Djuric and Vedad Ibisevic’s second-half goals.
– James Carter (@Jamescarter100)FACT: Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale qualified Wales.
“We never risk players”.
“This is right up there (in my career) – this was one of my dreams of things to do”.
Coach Antonio Conte is keen for Italy to complete their campaign with a win over Norway to give themselves the best chance of being top seeded for finals after they sealed their place at Euro 2016 on Saturday with 3-1 victory at Azerbaijan.
‘When I was walking off I saw our supporters were singing and our secretary, Mark Evans, whispered in my ear that Israel had lost.
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“We did all in our power to have him with us, he has been training and we will see if he is ready to play on Saturday”, said Bazdarevic, who is definitely without the suspended Everton midfielder Muhamed Besic. “We’re only a small nation, but we’ve done it”.
