Coming off of a disappointing loss against England, Wales needed at least a tie to give them a chance at advancing to the Round of 16 in their Group B finale. Gareth Bale and co. made certain that the Dragons wouldn’t miss out on the knockout round.
Wales booked their spot in the next round on Monday, defeating Russia, 3-0, behind a goal and an assist from the Real Madrid playmaker.
The Welsh got off to a dream start, scoring two goals in the opening 20 minutes, first through Aaron Ramsey and followed by Neil Taylor.
Joe Allen played provider for Wales on the opener, sliding a through ball into the path of Ramsey, who made no mistake on the finish in the 11th minute. Taylor then doubled the side’s lead nine minutes later, after Gareth Bale found the Swansea defender making a deep run into the penalty area.
While Russia had a few isolated chances in front of goals on the afternoon, Wales never lost control of the match, notching 12 shots on target.
The Dragons likely had the points in the bag going into the second half based on their dominance, but Bale’s clever finish in the 67th minute put Wales up 3-0, all but sealing their place as Group B champions.
The victory assures Wales a spot in the Round of 16, although their opponent has yet to be determined. Russia’s road at Euro 2016 comes to an abrupt halt with their loss on Monday.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Gareth Bale has been influential for the Welsh throughout Euro 2016, and proved his value yet again in Monday’s win. The Real Madrid winger registered a goal and an assist.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
Russia appeared doomed from the start after conceding 11 minutes in. Aaron Ramsey’s goal built confidence for the Welsh, and they never looked back.
MATCH TO FORGET
Igor Akinfeev and the Russian backline faced relentless pressure on the afternoon, and they simply couldn’t find an answer to the Welsh attack.
Bale looks more and more like a Ronaldo-lite (expect he actually comes through for his national team).
Astounding how bad Russia has looked lately, both on and off the field. They were dreadful in the last World Cup, and if anything have gotten worse…dropping games to Wales and Slovakia, and the only thing they won was a few Fight Club type altercations where their “fans” just randomly attacked Englishmen in the streets and stadium?
Along the way, they didn’t pay Fabio Capello for almost a year.
What really is covering them with glory is the way certain Russian politicians reacted to the attacks by Russian hooligans, saying stuff like “the only thing the French police are good for is policing gay pride rallies” and egging the hooligans who were putting guys in the hospital on. And oh, yeah, their entire track and field team was just banned from the Olympics because the Russian version of the FBI was systematically suppressing positive doping tests at their own Olympics. Classy.
Basically Russia is what you get when your government is run by the Mafia. And these @ssclowns are going to hosting the next World Cup. I shudder at what the results are likely to be like.
Their recent demise interestingly coincides with Russia “mandating” all their players play domestically as well.
Of all the players they’ve called in over the last year, only one plays outside of Russia.
I had to google this: Wales has a population of 3 million, Russia has 146 million. That’s to say nothing of Iceland with a population of 300,000 which has a decent chance of advancing if they get at least a tie from their game with Austria.
As a fan, I’m becoming more convinced that this expanded Euro is a good idea.