When Ryan Giggs retired from international football last summer, opinion on his country’s footballing future was divided. Last night, the Manchester United winger returned to give a team talk and witness a glimpse of what may lie ahead for Wales in the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup.
John Toshack, the Wales manager, took more encouragement from how his players dealt with the absence of key players, a change in tactics and an atrocious pitch than from victory in this friendly match at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.
Having twice gone close to falling behind in a hesitant opening spell, Wales took the lead when Carl Fletcher outpaced Pa-Modou Kah to flick past Hakon Opdal, the Norway goalkeeper. It was a timely strike for Fletcher, who has fallen out of favour at Crystal Palace, his club. Jason Koumas scored the second goal, drilling in a low shot, and added the third after being set up by David Edwards.
“Koumas has his critics because he does not put the work in,” Toshack said. “But others can do that. When Koumas is up for it and wants to play, he is very important for us.”
When Ryan Giggs retired from international football in the summer, opinion was divided on the country’s footballing future. Last night, the Manchester United winger returned to the squad for the first time to give a team-talk and witness a glimpse of what may lie ahead for Wales in the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup.
Advertisement
John Toshack took more encouragement at how comfortably his players dealt without four key players, a change in tactics and an atrocious pitch than from the victory in this friendly match at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.
Having twice gone close to falling behind in a hesitant opening spell, Wales took the lead when Carl Fletcher out-paced Pa-Modou Kah to flick the ball past the advancing Hakon Opdal, the Norway goalkeeper. It was a timely strike. Fletcher was stripped of the Crystal Palace captaincy two matches after Neil Warnock took charge in October, and has been out of the team for the past month.
Koumas scored the second, drilling a low strike into the corner early in the second half. With Giggs gone, the Wigan Athletic midfield player has the ability to become the heartbeat of the Wales side, if he can get his head right. For different reasons, he missed all six of the away fixtures during the last European Championship qualifying campaign. A bookmaker in Cardiff has given Toshack odds that Koumas will miss the three friendly matches against Luxembourg, Iceland and Holland before the summer. “He offered me 11-1,” Toshack said.
Koumas added the third after combining expertly with David Edwards. “Koumas has his critics because he does not put the work in,” Toshack said. “But others can do that. Shankly would say: ‘A team is like a piano. It needs eight to carry it and three to play it.’ When Koumas is up for it and wants to play, he is very important for us.”
Toshack has asked to be judged on the World Cup qualifying campaign that begins in the summer. Wales have not quailed for a major tournament since 1958. “Qualifying has become an obsession, and then it becomes harder to achieve,” Toshack said.
Advertisement
He changed from his favoured 3-5-2 system to accommodate the loss of Danny Gabbidon, James Collins and Gareth Bale through injury. After a shaky opening 20 minutes, Craig Morgan and Lewin Nyatanga were rarely troubled by Norway’s three forwards, including John Carew. Norway started with two more Premier League players than Wales.
“We faced awkward customers but we handled Carew well,” Toshack said. “It was a difficult surface. There is a good spirit among them. We played some decent stuff on a shocking pitch. We had to make the changes. The side is youthful. We have to be pleased with the progress given that we don’t have a great pool of players. These games are not about the result but about having alternatives and options for when players are missing.”
Koumas and Edwards both hit the post, Craig Davies beat the offside trap and curled a shot that was tipped over. Norway’s direct style might have been disrupted less by the atrocious pitch, strewn with large divots through the middle, had their enthusiasm not waned after a bright start when Erik Nevland and Pa-Modou Kah both wasted good opportunities.
“You can sing about the rain but you can’t stop it,” Age Hareide, the Norway coach, said. “You can’t blame the surface, we never played and we got smacked. You can’t be 10-20 per cent below the standard you should be at international level, otherwise you will be beaten – and we were. Wales were effective and counter-attacked well. They deserved the win.”