Coleman hails Wales star, following his match-winning display against Northern Ireland at Euro 2016
Chris Coleman has credited Gareth Bale for Wales 1-0 win over Northern Ireland at Euro 2016.
Bale’s teasing cross was put into in his own goal by Gareth McAuley in the 75th minute, and Wales defended to their lives to keep the scoreline 1-0, which settle them for last-8 clash with either Belgium or Hungry.
Coleman hails Wales star, following his match-winning display against Northern Ireland at Euro 2016
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In his post match interview, Coleman admitted that Wales failed to play with their usual tempo, but acknowledged Bale’s role for making the difference.
“There was so much riding on this game,” said Coleman. “We got a bit of luck with the goal we scored, it was unfortunate for big Gareth McAuley, but the luck came our way.
“We could have lost our way because the performance was not the same as the Russia performance. We could have got ill-disciplined and lost our shape but we hung in when we needed to.
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“That gave us a little bit of time. With Gareth Bale or Aaron Ramsey on the pitch, a little bit of brilliance can change your life and we were depending on that today.
“I thought we didn’t really play well at all today. That wasn’t our fault, it was credit to Northern Ireland who did what they do very well – make it very difficult for the opponents.”
“I’m not going to take any credit away from our boys,” Coleman said. “It was an ugly win for us but who cares? We’ve played very well and not got results.
“The three wins out of four we’ve had we’ve had to play differently. It’s a good return for any team.”
We will never look past the next challenge. We’re sitting here today. Lady luck shone on us but I think we earned it.
“Whoever comes in front of us – Belgium and Hungary can cause us different problems. But we’ll worry about that tomorrow and enjoy tonight.