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Welsh Soccer fans in Sydney turned out
to watch the National team engage England in a World cup
qualifier from Old Trafford. A substantial gathering assembled
at the Nags Head in Glebe for a TV broadcast organised by
Cardiff exile Richard Jeffery.
The crowd warmed up for the first Wales
v England game for 20 years by watching Wales v Northern
Ireland on video. For many it was the first time to witness
the extraordinary events that saw Robbie Savage sent off
within the first ten minutes and be effectively banned for
three games for what can only be described as the silliest
referee decision seen in years and left people bewildered.
That was until the same referee sent
of a second Northern Ireland player for celebrating his
team's second goal with a gesture that offended no one in
the stadium bar the Italian referee. It was a bizarre encounter
but Savage's loss seriously affects Wales' ability to qualify
with such thin quality within the squad.
And the lack of cover was evident from
the start of the big match when centre back Andy Melville
strained a calf during the warm up in the game against England.
Not wishing to risk the hapless 20year old, Cardiff rookie,
James Collins against England's stars, Welsh manager Mark
Hughes opted to switch Simon Davies from attacking midfield
to right back and moved right full back Mark Delaney into
the heart of the defence to replace Melville.
This immediately set Wales on the back
foot as Hughes broke the rule of playing your best players
in their best position. And no one can argue against Simon
Davies being a stealthily slick attacker but a limited defender.
The crowd at Glebe were only just coming
to terms with this shock announcement when a Frank Lampard
shot deflected off his teammate and long time Welsh resident
Michael Owen to give the home team a 1-0 lead after 4 minutes.
Wales had elected to set their defence
deep to negate the speed of Owen and Defoe but this merely
played into the hands of Wayne Rooney who was given ample
room to operate as a free midfielder behind the strikers.
The Welsh midfield found the going hard as they failed to
get near their opponents with both teams spread out along
the pitch. In fact Rooney terrorised the Welsh team and
at different times left a trail of Welsh defenders on the
seat of their pants.
However Wales battled gamely and did
have their chances and almost pulled the game level in the
second half with chances to Bellamy, Hartson and Speed and
a disallowed rocket from that man Davies who had surged
forward on the right only to see the ref give a foul against
Hartson in lead up play.
From then on England could have scored
a number of times but it was a truly memorable curling 20
yarder from Beckam who bent it like …er….well,
Beckam, that put Wales to rest.
All in all an enjoyable evening but a
disappointing result which leaves probable new Manager John
Toshack an uphill task of qualifying if he takes over next
week..
As Mark Hughes prepares his team for
the now vital match against Poland in Cardiff on Wednesday
he will surely reflect on some strange tactical decisions
over the past few games which only serves to underline his
inexperience as a football manager.
Sydney Welsh supporters gave thanks
to Richard Jeffery for organising the event. The plaudits
came from people of Anglessy, Pwllhelli, Newport, Cardiff,
Penclawdd, Cwmafan, Cwnllynfell, Aberafan, Porth, and the
'Swansea Jacks' along with many others from points around
Wales.
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