Wales ‘will attack with our lives’, Coleman says of Euro 2016 match
Lille (France) (AFP) – Wales are not thinking about themselves as underdogs ahead of their Euro 2016 quarter-final with heavily fancied Belgium, manager Chris Coleman asserted on Thursday. Having qualified for a major tournament for the first time since 1958, Wales defied expectations by topping their group above England and then beat Northern Ireland 1-0 in the last 16. Belgium are currently second in the FIFA ranking, but Wales took four points from them in qualifying and Coleman says that it is inaccurate to suggest that there is no pressure on his side. “We’ll enjoy it, like I’ve said all
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Lille (France) (AFP) – Wales are not thinking about themselves as underdogs ahead of their Euro 2016 quarter-final with heavily fancied Belgium, manager Chris Coleman asserted on Thursday.
Having qualified for a major tournament for the first time since 1958, Wales defied expectations by topping their group above England and then beat Northern Ireland 1-0 in the last 16.
Belgium are currently second in the FIFA ranking, but Wales took four points from them in qualifying and Coleman says that it is inaccurate to suggest that there is no pressure on his side.
“We’ll enjoy it, like I’ve said all the way along. But we enjoy it when we perform,” he said ahead of Friday’s game.
“People have already said that Wales can’t lose, they weren’t meant to make the quarter-finals, they’re the underdogs blah blah blah, but that’s definitely not the way we see it.
“This is another huge test, a big challenge. It’s just another one of a line of challenges that we’ve already met. It’s fantastic. It’s a great position for us to be in.
“But we’ve got to go and do all the things that we’ve been doing to get us in this situation in the first place.
“The pressure is on us, certainly from within our group, to keep performing and that’s what we’ll be looking to do.”
Wales struggled to break down Northern Ireland when the teams met in Paris last Saturday, but Belgium are a much more attacking team and Coleman predicts that sparks could fly at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
“Belgium won’t change what they do. If you’re as good as Belgium, why would you change?” he said at his pre-match press conference.
“They’re a very offensive team. They’re deemed as an offensive team, but actually if you look at their stats, they’ve scored eight goals in this tournament. We’re deemed as a defensive team. We’ve scored seven goals.
“Five of their goals have come from counter-attacks, two from set-plays and one from open play. So those are the facts.”
– ‘Great place to be’ –
He added: “They’ll play the way they play. They play with imagination, they’ve got pace and power. We’ll play the way we play.
“When it’s time to defend, we’ll defend with our lives and when it’s time to attack, we’ll attack with our lives. If we do that, Belgium will be in for a hell of a game.”
With captain Ashley Williams fit after injuring his left shoulder against Northern Ireland, Wales will be at full strength for their biggest game since a 1-0 loss to Brazil in the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup.
Their fans have experienced disappointment after disappointment in the decades since, including a number of agonising near-misses in qualifying for major tournaments.
Indeed, in Coleman’s first two competitive games Wales were beaten 2-0 at home by Belgium and crushed 6-1 by Serbia in World Cup qualifiers in September 2012.
Having seen his players go through the lows, he has urged them to relish the highs.
“I don’t need to ham this game up,” said the former Fulham and Crystal Palace defender.
“It is what it is, we are where we are. We’ve earned it. We know what’s at stake. It’s a fantastic pressure to have, a real positive pressure that we’ve earned.
“We’ve experienced the other pressure, which is tough, and a lot tougher than this one we’ve got, I promise you that.
“Since that 1958 quarter-final, you have to put this down as the biggest game our country’s ever been involved in, which is a great place to be.”
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