“The preparation has gone according to plan, we have no problems, all the players are fit and ready to play”.
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While Welsh fans dream of a first win over neighbours England since 1984, Coleman refuses to get carried away in the hype around facing The Three Lions. You have a guy like Bale who just came off playing a full 120 minutes in the Champions League final for Real Madrid and Milton Keynes Dons striker Simon Church, who had to move to Aberdeen due to limited first-team opportunities in the Championship with the relegated side. “We don’t just say it for no reason”, the former Tottenham Hotspur star said on the eve of Wales’ campaign opener against Slovakia here on Saturday.
“What happened made us come together, stronger, ” said Bale.
“But as a team our strength is knowing what we are good at and what we are not good at”. Unless we are right at it, ruthless and awful – that is what we improved from the first campaign to the second. “We improved our levels of concentration and focus, and we stuck to a gameplan and that was not always pretty”.
Allen, who injured a knee during Wales’ pre-tournament training camp in Portugal, missed his country’s final warm-up game against Sweden at the weekend, along with Crystal Palace midfielder Joe Ledley and Reading forward Hal Robson-Kanu.
But Bellamy believes a different approach is needed for Slovakia in Bordeaux, arguing the game will be cagey and Williams’ greater creativity will suit Wales better.
“England has been one of the superior teams in world football over the last God knows how long-and especially within the British teams, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, it’s probably been the dominant force”, said Earnshaw.
Gareth Bale scored seven of Wales’ goals in qualification and the world’s most expensive player is the obvious dangerman but Mills points to a stubborn defence, that only conceded four times in the 10 games to get to France, and team spirit, as the biggest key to success.
“He’s used to the spotlight and having the eyes of the world on him with everything he does, on and off the pitch”.
“It is a group in which the matches will be even and we want to enjoy the tournament”.
But manager Coleman says Bale is used to being in the spotlight. “He was my hero growing up and an awesome player”.
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“They big themselves up before they’ve done anything, so we’re going to go there and we believe we can beat them, ” said Bale.
