Chris Coleman has said his players will fully deserve to be called the “golden generation” once they secure their place in next summer’s European Championship finals and write their names in the history books as the first Wales squad to qualify for a major tournament since 1958.
Gareth Bale’s thumping late header against Cyprus on Thursday gave Wales a precious 1-0 win in Nicosia that strengthened their hold on top spot in Group B and means they can book their place at Euro 2016 with another victory over Israel in Cardiff on Sunday.
With so many of the current group products of a successful Wales Under-21 team under Brian Flynn and coming through into the senior side at the same time – John Toshack gave 11 of the 13 that featured in the 1-0 victory over Belgium in June their international debuts – the golden generation tag has been around for a while and at times there were doubts about whether the players would be able to live up to the hype. Wales slipped to 117th in the world in the rankings four years ago and the core of a promising group – Aaron Ramsey, Wayne Hennessey, Chris Gunter, Joe Ledley, Joe Allen, Neil Taylor, Andy King and Bale – could have been forgiven for wondering whether they would ever get a chance to represent their country on the biggest stage.
Everything, however, has spectacularly come together in this campaign and reinforced the belief that Wales, inspired by Bale, who has scored six and set up two of their nine goals in qualification, are blessed with the most talented crop of players in years.
“We’ll be the golden generation when I’m sitting here with a smile on my face and we’re celebrating because we’ve got enough points which means we can’t be caught and we’re on our way to France,” Coleman, the Wales manager, said.
“Then, yeah, absolutely. And they deserve it. I said in the first camp in Andorra, to the players privately, I thought this group of players are something special. With that comes a bit of pressure. We have to handle that. But I do believe it’s on the way.”
Coleman felt the Wales team he played in during the early 1990s was a golden generation, when Neville Southall, Mark Hughes, Ian Rush, Dean Saunders, Gary Speed and Ryan Giggs came within a penalty kick of qualifying for the 1994 World Cup finals but he now accepts that the current side has eclipsed their achievements.
While Bale has been the driving force behind the Wales renaissance – the Real Madrid forward has now scored 15 goals in his past 20 internationals – Coleman highlighted the contribution of the captain, Ashley Williams, who arrived on the international scene late and was outstanding against Cyprus.
“[He’s an] absolute rock,” Coleman said. “He makes me feel calm. When the ball’s flying around the box, I just know he’s going to get on the end of it. He’s a great leader and I think the spine of the team is extremely strong. You always need that. Any successful team needs that.
“At one end of the pitch you’ve got one of the best defenders in the Premier League and, at the other end of the pitch, you’ve got one of the best offensive players in the world. You’ve always got half a chance if you’ve got that in your team.”
