It means Wales will now play a best third-placed team at the Parc des Princes in Paris on Saturday evening, with Albania, Northern Ireland, Czech Republic and Turkey all possible opponents.
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“In terms of possession, dominating the game and creating chances, we have to be pleased”.
Look, we all know my lack of faith in Hodgson, but he has got to be more proactive in selection. Who knows how Portugal’s group will pan out? “Yet again, this is a game we should have won, because everything we did on the field put us in a position to win, but we didn’t use those corners and free-kicks to get the win”.
“This is new for us, it’s exciting”.
“We’ve come up against some really resilient defending, but everyone is well aware that there’s going to be a game where we do start getting what we deserve”, said Hart.
Kevin Miles, chief executive of the Football Supporters’ Federation, said: “It’s a real pain for everyone that has hotels and flights booked in what wasn’t an unreasonable expectation”. Yet no team in France so far this summer has thrilled with consistent and entertaining performances like the Welsh one has, and no player has stepped onto this massive stage and claimed the starring role as his own the way Bale has.
After a promising start that saw Bale force Akinfeev down low in the opening minute, it was Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey who got Wales up and running in the 11th minute. Taylor doubled the advantage nine minutes later after slotting in a rebound, his first global goal.
“There is no point harking on about the first game”.
“Obviously we’ve had some awesome nights over the last few years [with Wales] but that was really incredible and to top the group as well was an even better feeling, and one that we want to keep having”.
For Coleman, who as a player suffered the disappointment of narrowly missing out on qualifying for a major finals, his side’s all-round performance made him “immensely proud”. “It’s not something that, quite frankly, I’ll be considering yet”, he said of the possibility. “It’s a frustration myself and the players will have to live with”.
Michael O’Neill’s side lost 1-0 to Germany on Tuesday but finished third in Group C, with their tally of three points enough to see them advance on goal difference.
Wales’ 3-0 demolition of Russian Federation meant they topped the group with six points, leaving many fearing a more hard next game in the last-16 for England.
“We are now weighing up whether we go and enjoy the trip and back Wales, but for the amount of money we may just try and sell the tickets online”. We’ll get whoever we get. I have great respect for the French team.
“And I think [judging] by our dominance in the game it didn’t affect that”.
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“I wouldn’t go for all the criticism because England have controlled every game”, he told the BBC. Even the fans were incredible, the support has been awesome back home.
