Wales’ preparations for their crunch Euro 2025 clash with France were dealt a blow when the team coach was involved in a crash on the way to training at the St Gallen Arena.
The Football Association of Wales confirmed no players, nor the passengers in the other vehicle involved, were harmed in the incident, but the team’s scheduled session on the pitch where they will face France in Group D on Wednesday evening was cancelled as a result.
Head coach Rhian Wilkinson and midfielder Angharad James, who had travelled separately to the pre-match press conference at the stadium, were visibly shaken in a truncated appearance in front of the media before travelling back to their training base to be reunited with their colleagues.
Wilkinson told the press conference: “This is really developing right now so we are trying to be as clear and transparent as possible.
“I think everyone, from all the reports, everyone is OK. Our priority is just to get them all together and away from the scene and reassess.
“We’ve got great staff, we’ve got really good support and we’ll be checking in just to make sure that they continue to be OK.
“And also just as importantly, I believe the other car involved, I think everyone is OK there as well, so when we know, I’m sure we will be letting everyone know.”
Despite her relief at the news that no-one had been injured, Wilkinson admitted the incident had been far from ideal preparation for a match which could determine her side’s fate in the competition.
However, she said football came second to the safety of her players, who she revealed have been conditioned to deal with the unexpected.
She said: “Yeah, I think football is secondary. Yes, we are shaken, just because we don’t know. We are away from the team right now, so they’ve had to experience that.
“But equally, we have a great group and I have been assured everyone is fine. We have practised for the unexpected – I think that’s what we can call this.
“Yes, football is secondary, but equally we’ll check back in, make sure everyone is in a good spot and the we will start working towards football again after that.”
The FAW later confirmed Wales, who lost their opening fixture 3-0 to the Netherlands on Saturday hours before the French got the better of reigning champions England, had trained back at their base.
Wilkinson, who set off for the press conference with a clean bill of health, said: “We always talk about the next match and this is another opportunity.
“Everyone always talks about what it means if we don’t get a point, but equally it’s about delivering as strong a performance as we can to show Wales just how proud we are to represent our country.”
James revealed some difficult conversations had been had in the wake of the Netherlands defeat, but insisted she and her team-mates were not daunted by the task ahead.
James said: “We’ve prepared for France just as we would prepare for any other game. This is any other game, we’ve played them before and we know what we can do to get something from the game.
“We’ve learned a lot over the past few days about ourselves, individually and collectively. We’ve had some tough conversations over the past few days, but we are ready to get back out on the field and put in a performance to be proud of.”
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