Welsh schoolchildren singing Calon Lan/ the “Pretty Lily” Cristiano Ronaldo
Wales face a date with destiny in the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon this Wednesday when they face Portugal in the semi final of EURO2016. That just bears repeating. A country whose National League has an average attendance of 327 and whose largest clubs play in the English league structure have gone further than Italy, Spain and Russia in this tournament.
Even more refreshingly, they have done so in style with some superb attacking football. They put three past the disinterested Russians and three past the world class Belgians. They beat the highly fancied Slovaks which England and Russia failed to do, and have really only struggled in their two all-British fixtures.
In Portugal, they play one of the most continental style teams in the competition; redolent with flair and moodiness in equal measure. Portugal have failed to win a match in 90 minutes out of their five, and won just the one of four in extra time.
For this and for many other reasons, Chris Coleman’s men can probably feel the support of most of the world at their back. You can add in their undoubted underdog status, general revulsion at the antics and attitude of Pepe and Cristian Ronaldo plus the undoubtedly beautiful lyrical support of their fanbase.
With apologies to the also fantastic supporters of Northern Ireland, musically “Will Grigg’s on Fire” cannot compete with Calon Lân the beautiful hymn written by Daniel James (Gwyrosydd) and put to music by John Hughes. The hymn has been a loNg time staple of Welsh rugby crowds but has been part of their football followers’ discography at this tournament.
Even the words of the chorus seem to hint at the way the Red Shirted Dragons have approached this tournament:
“A pure heart full of goodness
Is fairer than the pretty lily,
None but a pure heart can sing,
Sing in the day and sing in the night.”
One could imagine that the (pretty lily) might even refer to the posing prima donna they will face in Lyon, certainly (so my female friends tell me) pretty, but certainly not pure of heart.
Wales will have to face him without two of their most vital components, Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies, both of whom have accumulated enough yellow cards to serve a suspension.
Davies has been a defensive rock, ploughing through a terrific workrate with the occasional stellar defensive header to prevent a goal.
Ramsey has been the main beneficiary from the misguided wisdom that Wales are a one man team. While defences have devoted multiple resources to keeping Ronaldo’s Real Madrid colleague Gareth Bale out the game, it is Ramsey who has benefited.
This table produced by SkySports illustrates just how much Wales will miss him:
Most goals and assists at Euro 2016
| Player | Country | Goals | Assists | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antoine Griezmann | France | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Aaron Ramsey | Wales | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Dimitri Payet | France | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Eden Hazard | Belgium | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Olivier Giroud | France | 3 | 2 | 5 |
He ties world renowned Eden Hazard in assists and finishes second overall in the tournament for combined goals and assists.
You could reasonably argue that, given the quality of players Frenchmen Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Dimitro Payet have around them, Ramsey has been EURO2016’s most impressive performer so far.
Ramsey told the press that the performance against Belgium was one of the best of his career, and that followed a game where he scored a goal and an assist in the 3-0 win over Russia. Amongst the rest of the squad, only James Chester has made more successful tackles and only Bale predictably has attempted more shots.
So how will Wales cope without the Arsenal man? This seems bizarre to say but they will need Gareth Bale to take it up a notch. He has only created four scoring chances to Ramsey’s 15 at the tournament. He will need to improve on that in Lyon.
In the line up, either Andy King or the tenacious Jonny Williams stand by to start the game. Williams was impressive in his 71 minutes against Slovakia in Bordeaux but hasn’t started since, though he did play the final 27 minutes against Northern Ireland.
West Ham’s James Collins should fit in as a direct replacement for Davies, although Coleman also has the option of moving the in form Reading right back Chris Gunter to centre half and inserting Fulham’s Jazz Richards into his right back slot.
Despite the imbalance between the two sides’ displays so far, Portugal will start as narrow favorites if only because the quality of player runs slightly deeper down their starting XI. William Carvalho is suspended and should be be replaced by Porto’s Danilo, which is not a great drop-off in terms of quality if it is in terms of attitude.
Danilo was reported as saying that he has no problem with Portugal winning ugly.
“I prefer playing ugly and being where we are than playing nice football and being at home right now,” he said at a news conference.”
Whether you consider Portugal to be practitioners of everything that is ugly in football, from Pepe’s faking head wounds to get opponents sent off, to Ronaldo’s faking contact to win penalties (and get opponents sent off) through Danilo’s pride at his nation’s ugly football, there is no doubt that Wales have brought some much needed joy to the tournament.
While Ronaldo was throwing reporter’s microphone into the river, Bale was charming the media, even getting away with explaining that video of the Wales’ players celebrating England’s defeat to Iceland that annoyed no-one except the English press.
“Sometimes you have to fulfill your responsibilities which means talking to the media,” Bale told a press conference when asked about the incident.
Bale has played a blinder at dealing with the media, as has coach Coleman and their fans. Their approach to the tournament has been devoid of the cynicism and arrogance that some of the larger nations bring.
If ever there was a time and a place for Calon Lân and Pure Hearts to triumph, it is Wednesday in Lyon.
