Match report
That’s all from me for tonight! I have to go and record an episode of our European Football Daily podcast, which should make for very pleasant listening for our Welsh listeners tomorrow. You’ll be able to download it in all the usual places or listen to it on site later tonight or first thing in the morning. If you’re not already a regular listener, here’s last night’s episode for you to try out. Thanks for your time and your emails, which have gone largely unread due to the frenetic pace of the match.
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So that’s that, then! It’s worth repeating: Wales are through to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 and join hands to do their sprint-and-slide of honour into one of the corners of the ground that is peopled by their fans. Belgium’s players, by contrast, traipse off looking thoroughly despondent. They were a goal up against a team they almost certainly consider to be Gareth Bale And Ten Other Blokes, but somehow contrived to lose ... and lose heavily. They’re out and Wales go into the last four, where they’ll meet Cristiano Ronaldo And Ten Other Blokes.
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Full-time! WALES 3-1 BELGIUM
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeep! It’s all over - Wales are through to the semi-finals of Euro 2016. They’ve knocked out the second ranked team in the world, which I suppose must make them the best. They were excellent tonight - under the cosh at times and riding their luck a little towards the end before Sam Vokes gave them that two-goal cushion. But they desewrved this win - every man jack of them stood up to be counted tonight and the people of Wales should be very, very proud of their football team.
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90+1 min: Wales’s fans are in fine voice as their team sees out the first of three extra minutes. This is incredible - they’re going to contest a European Championship semi-final against Portugal and on the evidence of this performance, will have every chance of beating them.
90 min: Aaron Ramsey is hooked, after a wonderful display. James Collins comes on to shore up the Wales defence.
88 min: You’ll be wanting to know more about that goal from Vokes. He leapt like a salmon making it’s way up the river Wye, getting the jump on his man - Alderweireld, I think - to convert a Chris Gunter cross from the right. I thought Gunter was heading for the corner flag to waste time, but he had other ideas. Very good ideas, as it turned out.
87 min: Belgium win a corner, which is sent into the penalty area. James Chester half-clears with a header, before Belgium win another corner. It’s pulled back to De Bruyne outside the Welsh penalty area, but his shot is blocked.
GOAL! WALES 2-1 BELGIUM (Vokes 86)
Crikey! Sam Vokes puts Wales two goals ahead with a wonderful header past Thibaut Courtois that goes inside the left upright. Wales are going into the European Championship semi-finals.
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85 min: Just five minutes of a thrilling football match to go, ubnless Belgium can find an equaliser.
84 min: Belgium substitution: Michy Batshuayi on for Romelu Lukaku, who hasn’t had a night to remember.
83 min: Radja Nainggolan goes down in the Wales penalty area while trying to get on a through ball from Eden Hazard. Replays show that should have been a penalty - Ashley Williams caught him on his instep with a mistimed lunge. Wales are riding their luck a bit here!
82 min: Ben Davies prevents Lukaku getting on a long ball from deep, putting the ball out for a throw-in deep in his own half.
81 min: Wales substitution: Sam Vokes on for Hal Robson-Kanu-Cruyff.
79 min: Axel Witsel shoots over from the edge of the penalty area - his fizzing effort wasn’t too far away. Moments previously, Ben Davies had brought down Romelu Lukaku on the edge of the penalty area after the striker had turned him, but got away with it. That should have been a free-kick on the edge of the area for Belgium and a second booking for Davies. He’s a lucky boy.
78 min: Wales substitution: Joe Ledley off, Andy King on.
77 min: Some desperate defending from Wales, as Belgium pile on the pressure again. Fellaini heads down for Witsel, but the ball’s just out of the midfielder’s reach.
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75 min: Hangdammit! Aaron Ramsey gets booked for deliberate handball. It’s a yellow card that will rule him out of the semi-final, should Wales advance. He’ll be a huge loss. Belgium substitution: Dries Mertens on for Jordan Lukaku.
73 min: Toby Alderweirteld sends a wonderful cross to the far post from the right. Marouane Fellaini gets the jump on James Chester, makes firm contact with the ball and somehow sends the ball wide from the edge of the six-yard box.
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70 min: Good block from James Chester, who slides in to intercept a low Kevin De Bruyne cross from the right that was heading towards Romelu Lukaku.
68 min: Wales advance into Belgium territory, but Nainggolan wins the ball and sends Eden Hazard on his way up the right flank. Jordan Lukaku receives a pass on the left flank and attempts to pick out his brother Romelu with a cross. It’s too high and the ball sails over the right touchline for a Wales throw-in.
65 min: Wales corner. Aaron Ramsey laughs as some Welsh fans behind the goal refuse to return the ball. When he eventually gets it, he swings the ball towards the far post, where Marouane Fellaini half-clears. Jordan Lukaku’s attempt to help the ball on its way is somewhat hapless and Joe Allen steals the ball of Nainggolan’s toe on the edge of the penalty area. His shot into a thicket of bodies is blocked.
64 min: De Bruyne’s up-and-down free-kick fizzes over the Wales wall and into the warm and tender embrace of Wayne Hennessey.
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64 min: Belgium win a free-kick for an Ashley Williams foul. Kevin De Bruyne stands over the ball, about 30 yards from goal, a little right of centre ...
63 min: There seem to be at least five Aaron Ramsey’s on the pitch and one of them attempts to pick out Gareth Bale in the Belgium penalty area with a cross from the right. It’s intercepted and cleared. Belgium are in all sorts of bother here, having completely dominated the early stages of this second half.
60 min: Wales win a corner after more good play from Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. The ball’s sent into the mixer, Thibaut Courtois flaps and the ball breaks for Williams. He attempts to dig it goalwards, but his effort is blocked by Courtois.
58 min: Hats off too, to Aaron Ramsey, who galloped about 50 yards up the inside right to take down a long ball from deep. On the right side of the penalty area, his first touch was immaculate, allowing him to square the ball for Ramsey, who was the only Welshman in the area, with three defenders to beat. He made fools of all three of them with one deft turn. Incredible stuff.
56 min: What an incredible goal from Hal Robson Kanu, who took out three Belgian defenders with a Cruyff turn after picking up a cross from Aaron Ramsey on the right. Having wrong-footed three - three! - defenders with his slick soft-shoe shuffle, he buried the ball past Thibaut Courtois with a low drive from 10 yards. Wales have one foot in the European Championship semi-finals!!!
GOAL! Wales 2-1 Belgium (Kanu 55)
Hal Robson-Kanu fires Wales in front!
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53 min: Belgium continue the screw, with Hazard pulling the strings again. The pressure is alleviated as Aaron Ramsey wins a free-kick after slipping while contesting a ball with Nainggolan.
51 min: Belgium continue to dominate.Hazard scampers across the face of the Wales penalty area and plays the ball to Meunier. He floats the ball towards Romelu Lukaku at the far post, but Ashley Williams averts the danger with a fine defensive header that called for him to stretch every sinew. Corner for Belgium, which is cleared by Ben Davies.
50 min: Eden Hazard cuts in from the left and tries to curl the ball inside the right upright. Wide. Wales are under some serious pressure here.
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49 min: Belgium attack down the inside right channel. After good work between Meunier and Nainggolan, the ball comes to Kevin De Bruyne, who shoots from distance. He aims for the top left-hand corner, but shoots over the bar.
47 min: Belgium dominate possession early in the second half, until Joe Allen commits a foul and concedes a free-kick. Belgium get the ball forward, Fellaini plays it wide to Thomas Meunier on the right flank. His delivery to Romelu Lukaku is superb, but the big Everton striker skims a header wide of the left upright from about seven yards out. He should have buried that.
Second half: Wales 1-1 Belgium
46 min: Wales kick off, with Belgium having brought on Marouane Fellaini instead of Yannick Carrasco, who I thought had a good first half. Fellaini slots in behind Axel Witsel in front of the back four, Radja Nainggolan moves forward and Kevin De Bruyne moves to the right.
And we're back talking about Wales ...
Pitchside in Lille, John Hartson has this to say: “Towards the end of that first half, Wales were the team that were in the ascendency,” he says. “I think that Wales have pushed on [since equalising], they’ve got their confidence. Belgium are rattled. Eden Hazard has been anonymous in that half. Belgium, in the last half an hour of that first half were poor by their standards and I think they’ll improve in the second half.”
Well, we were enjoying that Wales game, but now we have to go back to talking about the England team.
— Dara Ó Briain (@daraobriain) July 1, 2016
Great minds think alike ...
Is this the time for yet another England post mortem? I want to hear more about Wales and Belgium.
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) July 1, 2016
On BBC television: With Wales holding their own against one of the tournament favourite, BBC have whizzed through their analysis of the first half so they can show us an interview they’ve conducted with Frank Lampard on the subject of England’s exit at the hands of Iceland. Hmmmm ...
Half-time: Wales 1-1 Belgium
45 min: That was a terrific 45 minutes of football, in which Wales went behind to a long-range effort by Radja Nainggolan but subsequently equalised through Ashley Williams. Both sides have played some lovely football and both will feel they should be in front. More, please.
44 min: Thomas Meunier attempts to whip the ball across the face of the Welsh goal for Romelu Lukaku to attack, but his delivery is too high. That was a well worked move, in which Wales got carved open.
43 min: Aaron Ramsey takes the corner and Ashley Williams heads over the bar. He should have scored again! Belgium’s players are leaving him completely unmarked at corners as their players get pulled towards the near post.
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41 min: Gareth Bale picks out Aaron Ramsey with a ball squared from the left. He attempts a shot on goal, but it’s put out for a corner off Jason Denayer’s arse.
40 min: Belgium corner, which Kevin De Bruyne takes. He fires the ball towards the near post, where Ben Davies heads clear. Radja Nainggolan hooks the ball back into the Wales area, where Toby Alderweireld is unable to get much purchase on a header that doesn’t trouble Wayne Hennessey.
38 min: Joe Allen picks out Joe Allen with a ball up the inside left and Neil Taylor makes himself available for the out-ball to the touchline. Wales win a corner, which Aaron Ramsey takes. He aims for James Chester at the far post, but he can’t get any control on his header, despite out-jumping Jordan Lukaku.
36 min: Wales go forward again, their wing-backs high up the field, making it nice and wide. Having been on the ropes after going a goal down, they’re back looking extremely comfortable on the goal and in possession.
34 min: Breaking on the counter-attack, Wales get the ball to Gareth Bale, who sets off up the pitch with four Belgian players between hims and the goal. He gmakes room for a shot and gets the ball on to his right foot, but his low, diagonal drive from distance doesn’t trouble Courtois unduly. This is a massively entertaining game of football.
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33 min: Belgium have reacted well to the equaliser and are laying siege to the Wales goal. Yannick Carrasco crosses from the right, but Wayne Hennessey gets an important touch on the near post, that stops the ball going to Romelu Lukaku who was lurking with intent at the back one.
31 min: Great stuff from Wales on the set piece. Having won the corner, the ball was sent into the Belgian penalty area, where Ashley Williams was left criminally unmarked. His downward header sailed into the bottom corner, where Kevin De Bruyne had abandoned the right upright he was supposed to be guarding. He attempted to keep the ball out with a desperate swing of his left boot, but was unable to reach it.
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GOAL! Wales 1-1 Belgium (Williams 31)
30 min: Hal Robson-Kanu wins a corner for Wales off Romelu and Ashley Williams equalises with a header!!!
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29 min: Replays show that was a wonderful save from Courtois, who flung himself to his right to keep out Taylor’s pile-driver.It would probably be churlish in the extreme to suggest Taylor made it a little easier than it needed to be for the goalkeeper by shooting too low.
27 min: Neil Taylor goes so, so close to bagging an equaliser, only to be denied by a sensational save from Thibaut Courtois. Unmarked in the Belgium penalty area, an Aaron Ramsey pull-back from the right landed perfectly for him and he smashed the ball goalwards. I’m not sure how Courtois managed to keep his low drive from no more than 12 yards out, but he did. A wonderful opportunity goes a begging for Wales.
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25 min: Eden Hazard goes to ground, appears to win a free-kick, gets to his feet and throws the ball away. Ashley Williams asks the referee to factor in this act of time-wasting and perhaps suggests the Belgium captain should be booked for his impudence.
25 min: Chris Gunter is booked for holding Kevin De Bruyne.
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23 min: Wales win a free-kick deep in Belgium territory. The ball’s played to Neil Taylor, who plays it forward to Aaron Ramsey. His low diagonal shot is blocked.
22 min: Something of a lull as we hit quarter way through the game. Belgium are controlling possession and looking very dangerous. They’ve picked up where they left off against Hungary, but Wales don’t look too rattled by their early setback.
20 min: Gareth Bale plays the ball wide to Neil Taylor on the left touchline. A reasonably promising looking move comes to nothing when Joe Ledley gives the ball away.
18 min: Jordan Lukaku gets forward from left-back and squares the ball low and hard into the Wales penalty area. It’s cleared by Chester; throw-in for Belgium.
17 min: *Disciplinary tightrope klaxon* James Chester becomes the second of Wales’s three centre backs to get booked, joining Ben Davies in the referee’s notebook after being pulled up for a trip on Romelu Lukaku.
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15 min: From the right touchline, Gareth Bale sends a lovely ball into the Belgium penalty area, trying to pick out Hal Robson-Kanu. Close, but no cigar.
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14 min: Well, you can’t say that wasn’t coming. Unmarked in acres of space just outside the Wales penalty area, on the left side, Radja Nainggolan receives a beautifully weighted pass from Eden Hazard which he allows roll across his body, before shooting into the top left-hand corner from at least 25 yards. Wayne Hennessey dived and got his fingertips to the ball, but couldn’t keep it out.
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GOAL!!! Wales 0-1 Belgium (Nainggolan 12)
Radja Nainggolan scores with an absolute rasper from outside the penalty area. Belgium lead 1-0.
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12 min: Joe Allen gifts possession to Yannick Carrasco on halfway and the Belgian winger gallops up the right flank ... oh, what’s this?
10 min: Better play from Wales, who end the early siege on their goal with some decent attacking play of their own. Gareth Bale shoots into the side-netting after giving Toby Alderweireld the slip. It’s classic Wales, with Bale wreaking havoc on the counter-attack.
8 min: Romelu Lukaku fails to get on the end of a Kevin De Bruyne corner at the far post, when he really should have done better. Wales are seriously under the cosh here.
7 min: Belgium pepper the Wales goal with three shots in quick succession after good work down the right from Kevin De Bruyne. Yannick Carrasco is first to shoot after picking up the ball from Romelu Lukaku, but his shot is blocked by Hennessey. The ball’s hammered goalwards again by Thomas Meunier and blocked again, this time by Neil Taylor. It rebounds to Eden Hazard, who shoots high over the cross-bar from the edge of the penalty area.
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5 min: Ben Davies gets booked for obstructing Kevin De Bruyne after the Belgian had intercepted a wayward pass from Joe Ledley. He’ll miss the next game if Wales go through.
4 min: “It’s going to be a game of cat and mouse for Wales’s wing-backs tonight,” says BBC co-comms man Robbie Savage, pointing out the potential perils of Chris Gunter and Neil Taylor getting forward and leaving gaps on the wing that will need to be filled by James Chester or Ben Davies.
3 min: That was Hazard’s second contribution of note; moments previously he’d galloped down the right wing and tried to pick out Romelu Lukaku with a cross that was a mite too near Wayne Hennessey in the Wales goal.
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3 min: Kevin De Bruyne plays the ball up to Eden Hazard in the inside left channel and he darts towards the byline, from where he overhits a cross to the back post.
2 min: Joe Allen plays the ball down the right flank to Hal Robson-Kanu, who holds it up. Belgium win possession back in midfield.
1 min: Jordan Lukaku and Jason Denayer get early touches on their first appearances in this tournament as the ball is played backwards from the centre-circle. Now Toby Alderweireld gets on it as Belgium play out from the back.
Wales v Belgium is go!
1 min: Belgium get the ball rolling. Their players wear white shirts with black, yellow and red stripes across the chest, black shorts and white socks. The players of Wales wear red shirts, white shorts and red socks. The rain in Lille is torrential.
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Not long now ...
The teams line up in the tunnel, with Ashley Williams leading out Wales and the comparatively tiny Eden Hazard doing the honours for Belgium. On the signal of referee Damir Skomina, they walk out on to the rain-soaked pitch. It’s been chucking it down in Lille this evening.
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Spare a thought for the folks at Folkstone
A couple of thousand Wales fans are in severe danger of missing tonight’s match as a result of severe delays on the Eurotunnel shuttle services earlier today. Uefa were unsympathetic to calls for kick-off to be delayed, saying “it appears that the vast majority of fans with tickets will arrive on time at the stadium in Lille.”
“It is absolute chaos, but as you would expect the Welsh fans are great,” said radio presenter Cerys Matthews, the one-time lead singer with Catatonia, in conversation with Wales Online. “They are in really good spirits and making the most of it. Unfortunately there is no Brains, but there is a lot of San Miguel and singing. Everyone keeps looking at their watches and the staff have been fantastic but everyone is concerned they won’t make it in time for the game.”
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How Wales will line up
Wales need to keep their shape tonight if their 3-5-2 formation is to prevail against Belgium, who lost 2-0 against Italy, the only other team in the competition to use wing backs.
Neil Taylor and Chris Gunter are the Welsh wide men tasked with the dual responsibility of helping out a back three of Ben Davies, Ashley Williams and James Chester, while providing support in attack for when Wales are in possession.
Wales v Belgium line-ups
Wales: Hennessey, Chester, Ashley Williams, Davies, Taylor, Allen, Ledley, Ramsey, Gunter, Robson-Kanu, Bale.
Subs: Fon Williams, King, George Williams, Edwards, Richards, Cotterill, Vokes, Collins, Jonathan Williams, Vaughan, Church, Ward.
Belgium: Courtois, Meunier, Alderweireld, Denayer, Jordan Lukaku, Nainggolan, Witsel, Carrasco, De Bruyne, Hazard, Romelu Lukaku.
Subs: Mignolet, Fellaini, Mertens, Origi, Kabasele, Dembele, Benteke, Batshuayi, Ciman, Gillet.
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
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Belgium manager Marc Wilmots speaks
On the injury that’s ruled Jan Vertonghen out for the rest of the tournament: “Jan Vertonghen turned his left ankle at the very end of training and has torn two ankle ligaments,” he explained. “It’s a sporting tragedy for him. He is out of the tournament, he’s out for around six to eight weeks. It is tricky but we’ve got alternatives. The players are ready to step in. It’s a unique opportunity. These things happen in tournaments.”
On tonight’s opposition: “We are now in the quarter-finals – the Hungary game is in the past and we need to focus on this game against Wales,” he said. “I think we have to keep doing what we’ve done well so far. Nobody knows what sort of team will be put out, so I really need everyone to stay on their toes.”
On his side’s chances in tonight’s match: “A manager is always scared of his team having an off-day,” he said. “It can happen. Hungary went well, but now we must remain focused and not take it for granted that we will win easily. It will be a tough match, it’s a different opposition this time. They are a team with pace, who play good football and a lot of them play in England.
“They are a side who defend really well and who have real talent on the counterattack. Now the stakes are different, this is no longer a qualification game for points. We are going out there with the semi-finals of the EURO as a prize – that is completely different.”
Wales manager Chris Coleman speaks
On Wales first appearance in a major tournament quarter-final since 1958: “We’re not going to talk it down,” he said. “We’re going to savour this occasion, as we have done all along. This is another huge test and it’s another in a line of challenges that we’ve already met. It’s a great position to be in. We’ve got to go and do all the things that have got us in this position in the first place.”
On the pressure facing his team: “Within the group the pressure is on us to keep performing,” he observed. “We’ve had to win differently [at this tournament]. Belgium are recognised as one of the best teams in international football and we’ve played them four times in the last two campaigns. But it’s all about us and our preparation. Just because it’s Belgium, there’s been no dramas in our camp.”
On Ashley William’s recovery from what looked like a serious shoulder injury: “You need a leader, you need leaders, and we’ve got a really good dressing room,” he said. “Ashley is the captain. You’re always worried with a shoulder injury but the medical team have done fantastic getting Ashley ready. It’s great news for us that he’s going to be available.”
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Team and injury news
Ashley Williams has recovered from what looked like a bad shoulder injury he picked up in his side’s win over Northern Ireland. Everyone else in the camp is fighting fit, despite reservations that some of them may have picked up various knocks and niggles during those raucous, borderline violent celebrations that greeted Iceland’s win over England in the Welsh team hotel.
Belgium are not so lucky. While Eden Hazard has been passed fit despite concerns about his wellbeing, Thomas Vermaelen must sit this one out on the Naughty Step, while Jan Vertonghen will play no further part in this tournament after picking up an ankle injury.
Gary Speed (1969-2011)
On what could become the greatest night in Wales football history, let’s take a little time out to remember Gary Speed, who was manager of the the national team he represented 85 times with such distinction as a player when he took his own life in November 2011.
At one point during his tragically short tenure, Wales were a lowly 117th in the Fifa rankings but rocketed up the charts to 45th, having won more ranking points than any other team in world football under his reign. Much of the credit for their current resurgence ought to go to Speed, who laid the foundations that have carried Wales this far. Here’s hoping his many friends and former colleagues currently involved in the set-up can carry their side a little further tonight, eh?
Hello everybody (translation: helo pawb)
Welcome to our minute-by-minute report of Wales’s Euro 2016 quarter-final against Belgium. I won’t lie, that’s a sentence I thought I’d never type but having topped their group and got past Northern Ireland in the first knockout round, Wales find themselves in the last eight (actually, make that seven) of the European Championships. Did we ever think we’d see the day? I certainly didn’t, but tens of thousands of Wales fans are well within their rights to disagree.
As a special treat for readers of the Guardian Football website demographic that speak Welsh, we’re entering into uncharted waters tonight. My colleague Elena Cresci will be providing an alternative, comparatively vowel-free minute-by-minute commentary on proceedings from the Grand Stade Lille Métropole. Do drop by, see how she’s getting on and wish her well. Kick-off is at 8pm BST (other time zones are available), but we’ll have team news and build-up long before that.
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