Chris Coleman confirmed that Gareth Bale was fit enough to start against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday but warned that the Real Madrid forward may not be able to complete the game on a night when Wales hope to secure the point that will guarantee their place at next summer’s European Championship finals in France.
Bale picked up a calf injury playing for Real Madrid in the Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk on 15 September, forcing him to limp off in the first half, and he has played only 24 minutes of football since, coming on as a substitute in the 1-1 draw with Atlético Madrid last Sunday.
Coleman said Real Madrid had not given Wales any special instructions to restrict the amount of time that Bale plays in their final two qualifiers, away in Bosnia and at home against Andorra on Tuesday, but he admitted it was “highly unlikely” that the man who has scored six of his country’s nine qualification goals (and set up two of the other three), would play 90 minutes in both fixtures.
“Baley is starting,” Coleman said. “We’ve not had any information to say he’s only available for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 50 minutes, but as I’ve said before, we don’t take chances with players. If there was a doubt that he couldn’t start then he wouldn’t. We know how much is on this game. There is a lot of pressure, a lot at stake. But we would never risk a player.
“Gareth is fit to start. If he is fit enough to complete 90 minutes I’m not sure, maybe not. But we’ll monitor how the game is going. And we have to remember we have two matches in four days. So it is highly unlikely he is going to be on the pitch for 90 minutes in both games. Don’t expect that, maybe not even 90 minutes tomorrow. But he’s certainly fit to start. He has looked good in training but Real Madrid have not given us any indication how long he is able to play.”
While Bale’s influence on Wales is there for all to see, Coleman was keen to stress that the side’s success is not purely down to one player. The manager pointed to their impressive defensive record during qualification, as well as the team spirit that has shone through in some of the tricky away games, to illustrate his point.
“Gareth gets all the headlines – when you’re a great player that’s what happens. He’s scored the majority of our goals but we’ve conceded only two in eight so it’s a collective thing. We’ve got a hell of a good group of players, great togetherness and Gareth Bale buys into the team ethic. It’s not all about Gareth. We’ve got such a fantastic individual player but it’s all about the team. But I’ll be happy for him to get a goal or two tomorrow and get all the headlines again.”
Asmir Begovic, the Chelsea goalkeeper, said that Bosnia would need to “act aggressively” against Bale but he later claimed that comment should not be interpreted as a sign that his team-mates plan to try and kick the world’s most expensive footballer off the pitch.
“That is not to be malicious but you have to be aggressive against a player like him,” Begovic said. “If you give him space to operate, then he causes you all kinds of trouble. We have to by all costs try to avoid that. That’s what I mean by aggressive. We’re not a dirty team but we have to play to our strengths and give him as little time as possible on the ball to work his magic.”
Coleman is anticipating a tough game against a Bosnia side who still have a chance to seize a play-off spot and hope that Edin Dzeko will be fit to lead the line. Wales are unbeaten in 10 competitive matches, a run that stretches back to the end of the 2014 World Cup qualification campaign, and are ranked eighth in the world, but Coleman insisted his team will take nothing for granted.
“Sometimes with success comes complacency but not with this group of players. We’ve been highly focused all week on the next challenge. We will attempt to do what we’ve done all campaign – the one thing these boys do when they walk on the pitch is show everyone what it means to represent their country. They’ve created an identity for themselves. We want to take it to Bosnia and hopefully we can make our fans proud with another great performance.”
