Wales’ clean sheet might have ultimately been dirtied by two goals, but by that point the result in Bosnia was largely irrelevant – at least for the visitors.
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Fourth placed Bosnia sit two points behind Israel and must win to keep alive their hopes of qualifying. “We’ve finally got into a major tournament”.
When the final whistle blew in Zenica, Coleman thought Wales’ first defeat of the qualifying campaign meant he would have to wait until the last Group B fixture on Tuesday to seal qualification for Euro 2016.
He said:”We never go into a game wanting to draw”.
Firstly, the Welsh are above England in the Federation Internationale de Football Association world rankings for the first time in their history, although there is more to this argument than FIFA’s immensely flawed ranking system.
“After that, it is all smiles”.
“Winning for your country is great, but losing in that manner, well, that was something new to me”.
‘When I was walking off I saw our supporters were singing and our secretary, Mark Evans, whispered in my ear that Israel had lost.
“I think I’d have been a bit of a coward if I’d have walked away”, Coleman said.
Prior to his days at Tottenham and eventually Real Madrid, where the ex-Liverpool boss now manages the Wales worldwide, Bale was considered as only a left-back with his potential as a winger or a forward yet to be discovered.
The Bosnians will miss suspended central midfielder Muhamed Besic but unlike up front, where Vedad Ibisevic stands out as the only natural replacement for Dzeko, Bazdarevic has plenty to choose from in the engine room.
The tight, patriotic Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica made for a hostile atmosphere, with the hosts still hopeful of making the play-offs.
Bosnia have been beset by problems with doubts remaining over Edin Dzeko, who injured a calf two weeks ago.
Begovic had more to worry about at the end of the half when Ramsey bore down on his goal but the chance went begging with Neil Taylor penalised as the ball ran close near to the line.
The hosts were finding it hard to break down Wales’ five-man defence and, six minutes later, Begovic became the first keeper to be forced into a save, but Bale’s skidding set-piece effort required little movement to deny. “Gareth is fit to start”, said Coleman.
The first half hsaw few chances and that was to Wales’ advantage.
Djuric headed in over keeper Wayne Hennessey from a Ibisevic flick-on. Instead it was the Bosnians who wrapped up the points, Pjanić’s right-wing corner finding Djurić at the far post; the substitute fired across goal and Ibišević turned in from close range. “We need to focus on our match”. And wow, I can’t explain how it feels.
“This has been a dream of mine, I know for the others it’s been the same”.
“It’s an absolute dream”.
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Breakthrough: Bosnia & Herzegovina celebrate their opener…
