Where did it all go wrong for Wales?
As the draw was made for European qualification for the 2014 World Cup on Saturday in the glamorous surroundings of Rio Di Janiero, it wasn’t just the Welsh football strip that was red. There were also a few red faces out there when it was announced who Wales were sharing a qualifying pot with. It’s almost impossible to believe that a country that has produced terrific players down the years (Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush, Neville Southall, John Charles, Gary Speed, Craig Bellamy, Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey to name but a few) would be placed in a pot specifically for the worst teams in Europe. This meant that a once great footballing establishment were rubbing shoulders with part-time teams such as Andorra, Liechtenstein and San Marino.
With the talent that they have in their squad, as well as a young, respectable manager, it seems baffling that it has come down to this. Of course it has all come down to this thanks to a Romanian computer programmer who spotted an error in the FIFA ranking’s calculations. Thanks to this mistake, Gary Speed’s side were leapfrogged by the Faroe Islands, a country with 20,000 fewer inhabitants than the Isle of Anglesey. A country more renowned for its fishing and lace-knitting than its football. A country whose best footballer had a trial at Carlisle United, and was subsequently rejected by the club!
All jokes aside, it would be foolish to read too much in to the world rankings as most people would bet on Wales every time to defeat the Scandinavian minnows. But it does beg the question as to what has gone wrong with Wales?
Their greatest achievement in competitive football was reaching the quarter finals of the World Cup. Unfortunately that was 53 years ago and since then, they have not even come remotely close to repeating that achievement. During the 70s and 80s, they were very much the ‘nearly’ team of European international football: Not quite good enough to qualify for the major tournaments, but nonetheless, a force to be reckoned with. But after they narrowly missed out on World Cup qualification for USA ’94, the team went in to free fall, losing to teams like Georgia and Moldova, as well as being thrashed 7-1 by Holland. But after Mark Hughes took over as manager, things started to improve and the team came agonisingly close to qualifying for Euro 2004 in Portugal, but lost in a play-off to Russia. Since then, the team have failed to reach similar heights. Hughes helped the nation to 49th in the world rankings. Back in August 2008, the team were 51st. But having only won 9 matches out of their last 26, the team has slowly deteriorated and found themselves in 116th place back in February – their lowest ranking ever.
The main problem that Wales seem to have is a distinct lack of motivation and consistency in their team. Throughout the years they have produced some star players, but too often these players have simply not been there for their country. These players, Ryan Giggs being a classic example, either underperform or choose not to play. As a result, the team loses and when the team struggle to qualify for major tournaments, the star players don’t want to play. These players are proud to represent their country, but do not see it as their biggest priority. Looking at the team in recent years, there has always been an air of mystery. Nobody ever seems to know who will or will not be in the squad and who will play well and this has resulted in a team lacking in creativity, teamwork and consistency.
Managers have come and gone down the years, but none of them have been particularly successful in convincing the team’s more talented players to represent their country. This is the task that now lies at the feet of Gary Speed. If the team is to climb out of its shame-hole, Speed will need his star players to put club commitments to one side and put on the red jersey. On paper, with players like Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Craig Bellamy, James Collins, Wayne Hennessey, David Vaughan and Robert Earnshaw, Wales should be considerably higher than their world ranking suggests and there is no reason why they cannot distance themselves from the ‘poor’ European teams and compete alongside the more ‘average’ European teams.
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On the plus side for Wales, the draw for World Cup qualifying has been reasonably quite kind to them. Their toughest matches will be against Croatia and Serbia and it’s difficult to see them getting a result against either team, however they have avoided European heavyweights such as Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland and England. Against Belgium, Scotland and Macedonia, Wales will fancy their chances considerably more.
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As things stand, Wales’ hopes of qualifying for the World Cup are probably the slimmest that they have ever been, but if Gary Speed can pull out all the stops to get his best players to represent their country, they may spring a few surprises.
Read more of Sam’s articles at http://diamondformation.wordpress.com/. Also follow him on Twitter: @DiamondFormat.