Bodin's Left Boot

When Trinidad & Tobago clash with England in the group stages of the World Cup in Germany, Sven's superstar players may have to do a double take when they take a peek around the crowd.

For there amongst the St George Crosses and flamboyant Caribbean support, Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham et al will spot a large number of Welsh Dragons proudly draped across the stadium fences.

A sizeable proportion of the support from England's neighbours will hail from North Wales - in particular Wrexham fans not needing a second invitation to throw their weight behind Racecourse favourite Dennis Lawrence. It was the lanky Red Dragon defender whose goal against Bahrain in a World Cup play-off fired Trinidad & Tobago into the finals for the first time in their history.

Former Wrexham player Carlos Edwards, a fellow team mate of Dennis Lawrence in the Trinidad & Tobago squad, is expecting a large Welsh presence to follow the Soca Warriors in Germany.

"I know we will have plenty of our own fans, and a big contingent from Wales, coming to support us," he said. "I will always have a bit of my heart in Wrexham, they gave me my chance to play in the UK and their fans have always been great with me.

"I know that they have adopted Trinidad and Tobago as their team - they still have Dennis Lawrence playing for them - and there will be plenty of Welsh flags around the stadiums we play in.

"It's so exciting to have all this support for us from the Welsh contingent and the Wrexham fans, because I think the English will feel intimidated by that. I think they will have to look twice because they'll be thinking 'what are the Welsh doing here'?"

To be honest, I reckon the Three Lions' assorted playboy footballers will have their eye turned more by T&T's seriously sexy soca dancers - a crack squad of gyrating, half-undressed exotically attired lap dancers for whom every day is carnival day!

Alongside the Caribbean cuties and Wrexham's slightly less easy-on-the-eye cheerleaders there will be a smattering of proudly partisan Welsh fans from other clubs, who have taken it upon themselves to support any team that Sven's boys play.

Who to throw your backing behind when England reach the finals of a major tournament is a quandary that British football fans have been wrestling with for years.

It comes into sharp focus when a major finals swings into view and this World Cup is no different.

In Scotland it's usually the way that you'll find it easy to buy the flags of England's opponents brazenly on sale in any high street shop.

Many Scots make supporting England's opponents a fine art form and you can bet north of the border, the majority will be shouting for England's group opponents Trinidad & Tobago, Sweden and Paraguay.

In Wales, the views are more polarised. Whilst a sizeable contingent will be rooting for England to fall at the earliest hurdle, there will be much support from the anglicised Welsh who have English roots but made their home in Wales.

Add to that those Welsh football fans who support an English Premier League club and you have a nation wrestling with their fragile conscience and divided loyalties.

Me? Let's just say I have an English wife - so finals of major football tournaments are usually spent method acting my support for Sven's men, while in the case of England's opponents at Germany 2006, secretly swotting up on my sizzling soca moves, singing along to the best of Abba and talking in a ridiculous cod-Spanish-cum-Paraguayan accent. Think Speedy Gonzales meets Manuel from Fawlty Towers.

Arriba! Arriba! Andale! Andale!

Que?

Posted by Juan Estupendo at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As a spectacle this may have been the televisual equivalent of watching paint dry, but if you will go all the way to Austria to play Trinidad & Tobago, then the god of equilibrium dictates you're at a disadvantage to begin with.

Every Welsh fan's dream game - Trinidad & Tobago away, was just a cruel apparition of what could have been - sun, sand, sea and sexy soca soccer - instead the hardy travelling 200 Welsh fans had to contend with the delights of the slightly less delicious landlocked Graz.

Whoever arranges these fixtures needs a map, a sense of humour and lessons in marriage guidance counselling. Negotiating your way from Bilbao to Graz in six days through various modes of transportation was the Welsh fans' equivalent of Frodo's journey from Middle Earth with that pesky ring. So congratulations to those fans who made both trips. I hope it was worth it and that your wives are still talking to you.

Leaving fixture quibbles to one side, the unthinkable happened again - Wales won another game of international football.

So they were friendlies, but we've now played two thirds of World Cup Finals Group B - England, Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden and our record stands at played 3, won 1, drawn 1, lost 1. On this form we should at least qualify for the World Cup quarter finals!*

Okay, so I'm being flippant but as confidence boosters go, the last week of Wales international football action has given most believers food for thought that maybe we won't be the pushovers that most pundits imagine we will be come the arrival of the imminent Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Let's consider the facts - Earnie scores his first Wales goals for two years, Southampton wunderkid Gareth Bale shatters Lewin Nyatanga's still fresh-smelling youngest international appearance record and we record back-to-back victories against one team packed with La Liga players and another against a team that will be participating in this year's World Cup Finals. Add this to the recent under-21 victotries and the future's so bright I might need to wear shades . . . to paraphrase that song from long-forgotten early eighties skewiff popsters Timbuk 3.

Of course, come the evening of September 2nd and I'm drowing my sorrows in one of Prague's many fine hostelries after Wales have slipped to a record defeat against the might of the Czech Republic, then the world might not look so rose-tintedly incandescent.

Still, the beer will taste nice . . .

* Line courtesy of Wales manager John Toshack during his post-match interview with the BBC Wales' Rob Phillips. Nice quip Tosh sir!

Posted by Juan Estupendo at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As improbables go, Wales U-21s winning 5-1 against Estonia U-21s was as expected as Ryan Giggs playing two away friendlies in a row. Okay, so that might be pushing the improbability envelope somewhat but it was surprising nevertheless.

In putting five past the Estonian keeper the team had recorded their biggest win for 11 years and snared an impressive 7-1 aggregate scoreline to boot.

Still, the signs that this was a team on an unpward trajectory were there for all to see. A hugely encouraging 2-0 away victory in Tallinn against a physical Estonian side ten days previously, set the team up for the second leg at The Racecourse, Wrexham on Wednesday evening.

There was a time when the Welsh youngsters couldn't win a toss, let alone put together two back-to-back victories by the handsomest of margins. But who would have thought the U-21s would string together such a promising run of results. Remember this is the same side that struggled to win a game against the minnows of world football not too long ago.

Winning the two-legged play-off to see who would make it through to the group qualifying stages of the U-21 European Championships is so important for the future of Welsh football. It means competitive matches for the youngsters for the next season and beyond.

Wales will line-up against Israel and Turkey in home and away qualifying games beginning later this year. They will face a sterner test than the Estonians, but with an impressive array of players such as Gareth Bale, Arron Davies, Andrew Crofts and David Cotterill you wouldn't bank against them continuing their winning run.

It's no coincidence that since John Toshack has taken over results have improved markedly. With the help of U-21 coach Brian Flynn, he's actively invested in the young players.

You can't fail to be impressed with the way he's given them a chance and offered the young lads the incentive of a senior call-up if they knuckle down and work hard. Something that Mark Hughes never did. What was it? One U-21 game that Mark Hughes ever attended?

A number of youngsters will be given their chance in Saturday's away friendly against Trinidad & Tobago, including Craig Davies who scored a hat-trick against the Estonians on Wednesday evening.

Toshack and Flynn may not have expected such a quick return on their investment, but this policy of promoting youth already appears to be paying dividends.

As far as investment in the future goes, it's a giant step forward.

Posted by Juan Estupendo at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well that was an eye-opener wasn't it. And I don't just mean the bedazzling away shirts that John Toshack's men wore that had me reaching for my television's contrast control.

For the first half hour it was more a case of Norwich canary yellow than Brazilian flair, as a new look Wales side struggled to contain the flow of attacks down the Welsh flanks from a technically superior Basque side.

No surprise really, given the fact that Toshack was forced into deploying two out-of-position midfielders - Simon Davies and Joe Ledley - as wing backs.

When I saw Davies taking up a right-sided defensive position I had nighhtmarish flashbacks from times he's lined-up there for Wales before: An almighty pummeling from the Italians, as the Azzuri dismantled Mark Hughes side 4-0 at the San Siro during qualifying for Euro 2004 and the gutless World Cup capitulation to England at Old Trafford.

The ferocious way the assortment of local La Liga players that lined-up for the Basques attacked, I feared another heavy defeat was on the cards, but through last ditch defending and poor finishing Wales weathered the storm and slowly came into their own.

What pleased me was the fearless tenacity of the younger players and the link-up play between Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy up front.

Much has been made of 'Toshack's babes' - the raft of youngsters that he has fast-tracked into the senior squad. In this game they certainly disappoint. At the back the impressive Lewin Nyatanga was calm and assured and linked up well with Joe Ledley - the versatile Cardiff player who has so far this season played central midfield, left midfield and left back for his club.

But it was up front that Wales shone. Bellamy and Giggs, Wales' two genuine world class players teased, taunted and toyed with the Basque defence who found both a handful. It's stating the obvious to say that if Wales harbour any ambitions to achieve anything they need these two talismanic figues fit and ready for the arduous campaign ahead.

Blackburn's Bellamy was passion and endeavour personified from the outset, hosting his own private titanic Lancashire tussle with Bolton's wily defensive lynchpin Ivan Campo. It was an absorbing duel between frightening pace and experienced guile. Campo though, was luckly to stay on the pitch when he wrestled Bellamy to the ground when the quicksilver striker was through on goal.

But that was Bellamy, causing trouble in all the right ways. His wholehearted commitment to the cause a salutory lesson to players like Jason Koumas, about how you harness your talent in all the right ways.

On a steep educational curve was little Robert Earnshaw, continuing his rehabilitation from fallen Premiership idol to international striker. It was disappointing that the good positions he found himself in didn't result in his troubling the back of the net. A full season at Norwich and a hatful of goals will do his confidence the world of good, because Wales is crying out for the nimble and dadly Earnie of yore, a player whose Welsh international scoring record was sublime.

Without the bulky figure of John Hartson, the attacking future for Wales revolves less around aerial bombardment and more around a slick pass and move game, and for moments on Sunday evening we were wide-eyed as we saw glimpses of what Wales could achieve.

The move for Giggs' weaving, winding, wonder goal came from good off-the-ball movement from Bellamy and the hugely promising Bristol City youngster David Cotterill. This lightning quick duo caused confusion in the Basque defence allowing Giggs the time and space to slip through the befuddled defensive cordon and slide the ball into the net.

Okay so it wasn't a competitive match. So the Basques had only assembled on the day of the match. However, these were experienced La Liga players turning out for a team who had only lost once in 14 internationals.

As a sign of things to come, the doom and gloom that many have predicted may soon be swept away by a tidal wave of optimism.

It's early days yet, but let's rejoice in the new, the bright and the bold.

And I don't just mean those garish away shirts.

Posted by Juan Estupendo at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Ryan Giggs steps out onto the pitch at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao tomorrow night, he will be making his first ever appearance in an away friendly - fifteen long years after his debut for his country as the most talked about seventeen year-old in British football.

Despite this startling fact, this is at least the sign of the all new responsible Giggs, a world class player who has never quite reproduced his scintillating club form on the international stage.

However, the last few games has seen the wing wizard, now wearing the captain's armband, supplanted to a new striking berth. This newly created role has seen him put together some of his most consistent performances of his Wales career.

It's clear one of the legends of the game has turned over a new chapter in his illustrious career. His comments yesterday, made at a press briefing before the Welsh squad boarded their flight to Bilabo, that he was in it for the long run, and had no intention of walking away from his country, will be met with sighs of relief the nation over.

Hallelujah to that, as Giggs - a model professional - now wears the tag of elder statesman of the group. He also appears to be revelling in new role as captain, coach and confidante to a new group of young charges making their Welsh international breakthrough.

As for his away friendly debut tomorrow night, let's hope he comes through unscathed, as you wouldn't want to be a player caught in between a verbal tussle between Sir Alex Ferguson and John Toshack - the unmoveable object versus the unstoppable force, with XL sized egos to match.

Ouch. Somebody's bound to get hurt.

Posted by Juan Estupendo at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

“I know that I need to be linking up with the Welsh squad a lot more. I've missed quite a few squads and I realise that's something I can no longer afford to do. People have questioned my commitment and I understand that, but I can assure you I am 100 per cent determined to be part of this - I always have been. Personal reasons, which I would rather not go into, genuinely have prevented me turning up for some squads.”
- May 24, 2003 (Jason Koumas, speaking before the USA v Wales international)

“I probably deserve some stick from certain quarters for not turning up for Wales and I'd be the first to admit that and I do understand the criticism. Believe me I'd love to go away for 10 days or so and be part of the Welsh squad. I have explained in every detail the personal problems that I have. I cannot go into the details, but I explained them to Toshack and he is fine about them.”
- May 19, 2006 (Jason Koumas, speaking ahead of the Basque Country v Wales international)

There used to be only two things you could rely on in life - death and taxes. Now you can add a third to that equation – Jason Koumas pulling out of a Wales get together.

Compare the two quotes above, made almost three years to the day apart. Then look at how many appearances Koumas has made for the Welsh national team. A paltry 17 caps since he made his debut away against Ukraine in 2001.

Despite protestations to the contrary you can only assume that Koumas is either not fully committed to the Welsh cause or those catch-all, unexplained personal problems he has regularly trotted out to excuse himself from international duty still remain.

But let’s be fair, it’s not just personal problems Koumas has used to pardon himself over the years. His cry offs have at times read like an imaginatively assembled list of fantasy football excuses - some obviously more believable than others.

He’s suffered a litany of 'injuries' that have appeared while selected for Wales, but that have seen him play for his club mere days later, added to these more infrequent but nevertheless eyebrow-raising incidents:
- the time his friend died and he said wasn’t right mentally to play
- the occasion when he was moving house and couldn’t appear
- best of all, when fertilizer sprayed on a football pitch got into his eye and caused an infection

It’s either been his head or his body that hasn’t been right, which makes you wonder whether all the stars have to be aligned for Koumas to grace the Wales team with his presence. A sight as rare as the appearance of Halle’s Comet, and almost as frequent.

Such is the aura of mystery that has surrounded his no shows, the excuses have quickly become folklore, urban myths stored for posterity and embellished to the nth degree.

Take this list of Koumas tales found after a quick trawl through cyberspace.

’Koumas pulled out of one Wales squad because he discovered an old air raid shelter buried in his garden and wanted to spend the weekend digging it out!’

‘Didn’t he pull out of a squad because his dog died?’

‘I seem to remember on one occasion he pulled out with a sore eye or something.’

‘And didn’t he turn up late for one game because he couldnt get a lift! Poor soul couldn’t afford a taxi on his meagre wages.’

While there is no doubting Koumas’ mercurial talent, his propensity to make life difficult for himself - on both the club and international scene - threatens to ruin what wonderful ability he possesses.

If he wants to be a vital part of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, he has to not only demonstrate he deserves the right to be picked in Toshack’s team, but show the fans his passion for the red shirt.

Anything less and JK will soon find himself consigned to the annals of footballing history as just another wasted talent. A player that had it all, but threw it away.

And who wants that burden to have to carry long after their playing days are gone.

Posted by Juan Estupendo at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Wales beat Cyprus in an under-21 friendly match at Port Talbot this week, the team resembled a schoolboys XI such was the average age of the players on the pitch.

All media eyes were trained on Southampton wonder kid Gareth Bale. The teenage defender, who at 16 years 303 days old made his under-21 debut on the left side of midfield. Amazingly, he wasn’t the youngest player on the pitch, that accolade going to Cardiff City’s Chris Gunter – who at a mere 16 years 299 days old scooped that particular short-trousered title!

But it is Bale who many believe could be the next Wales defender to break through into the senior ranks. The left-sided defender has been described as a “Rolls Royce of a player” by under-21 boss Brian Flynn. It is also rumoured that both Liverpool and Tottenham are keeping tabs on the youngster who this season made his senior bow for the Saints.

The Cardiff-born prospect, the best mate of England’s surprise World Cup call-up Theo Walcott – friends from their time living in the Southampton trainees boarding house, looks a fantastic prospect. And working on the premise of ‘if your old enough your good enough’, Welsh boss John Toshack has drafted the youngster into the senior squad to face the Basque County and Trinidad & Tobago over the next week.

This progression of youngsters like Gareth Bale underlines that in just a short time Toshack and under-21s boss Brian Flynn are beginning to build sure-footed foundations for the future. So while Wales may not be assembling a team of world beaters just yet, there are already definite signs that the set-up is reaping the rewards of a devoutly held ‘youth first’ policy.

This belief can be seen in the unearthing of such rough-hewn diamonds as Cardiff midfielder Joe Ledley (19), agile Ipswich keeper Lewis Price (22), Portsmouth right back Richard Duffy (21), Swansea schemer Owain Tudur Jones (21), sublimely gifted Bristol City front-runner David Cotterill (19) and most noticeably Derby’s classy centre-half Lewin Nyatanga (17).

Already holding the record for being the youngest Wales Under-21 cap, at 16 years 174 days when facing Germany in Wrexham on February 2005, Nyatanga became the youngest player ever to turn out for the Wales senior team, making his debut against Paraguay in Cardiff on St David's Day 2006 aged 17 years and 195 days.

That night he put in the sort of wonderfully assured performance that England’s John Terry and Rio Ferdinand will be hoping to emulate when they come up against Paraguay’s tricky strikers in the opening game of their World Cup qualifying group in Germany this summer.

John Toshack may have had a fractious beginning to his tenure as Welsh manager, but with his vast experience, weighty tactical nous, and more importantly, his fine track record of nurturing youth, only a fool would say he wasn’t the right man for the job.

Those Welsh fans with short memories and even shorter fuses must be patient and cast their sights beyond Eruo 2008 to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It is evident that Tosh and Flynn are building for the future. If the progress thus far is any yardstick, they’re making a good job of what is, let’s face it, a hugely onerous task.

There may be more blips and bumps to come, but at least there appears some light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

And no it isn’t an oncoming train.

Hopefully.

Posted by Juan Estupendo at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Forget Steven Gerrard’s FA Cup final wonder strike if you will, and if you are a West Ham fan, you’ll be receiving counselling for years to come to achieve just that. No, the most astonishing performance for me from Saturday’s incredible final was that of Wales defender Danny Gabbidon.

Gabbs turned in the sort of assured super show that would have had the watching worldwide audience wondering why this classy stopper is not being talked about in the same breath as John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Ledley King.

His reading of the game was exceptional. As Liverpool bombarded the West Ham area Gabbidon was first to every ball. On the floor, or in the air he was almost Gandalf-like – ‘You shall not pass’ was surely his maxim for the afternoon.

He marked Crazy Legs Crane, or Peter Crouch as he’s also known, out of the game. It was the sort of defensive masterclass that prompted Alan Hansen, who purports to know a thing or two about defending to purr that he was “immense”.

He didn’t even let Djibril Cisse’s terrible haircut and even worse lime green boots combo, put him off.

Recently voted West Ham supporters’ player of the year, Gabbs has quickly dispelled any doubts those Premiership managers who didn’t take a chance on him may have had about his concentration levels, to become one of the Prem’s most reliable players.

So it can sometimes appear that he is shaking off the after-effects of a pre-match jazz cigarette and yes he is so laidback he’s almost horizontal, but he does find room and time on the ball that others don’t. At Premiership and international level that just underlines his class.

With a watching worldwide audience of millions – and the world’s leading managers sure to have taken a peek at this most memorable of finals, don’t be surprised to find Danny on a few wish lists this summer.

And for John Toshack’s Wales – that’s got to be great news.

Posted by Juan Estupendo at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the immortal words of the unnaturally toothsome and squeaky Bee Gees: "Tragedy, when the feeling's gone and you can't go on, it's tragedy."

I doubt the Gibb Brothers have ever had to suffer the ignominy of sitting through any of the Wales international football team's regular adventures in heartache, but if they had happened to bag a ticket for Anfield '77, Ninian Park '85, The Arms Park '93 or Millennium Stadium 2003, they'd be forced to turn the falsettos up to 11 and bemoan the Welsh national side's endless ability to steer clear of qualifying for a major tournament.

And so to the name of this tear-stained and emotionally drained blog - a tribute to the whipping boy of Welsh football, the man who will forever be associated with the most famous penalty miss in Welsh football history. Wednesday 17th November 1993 is a date forever etched into every Welsh football fan's memory. It was the infamous night when Paul Bodin stepped up to take a crucial penalty kick against Romania in a vital World Cup qualifier. The hopes of a nation rested on his shoulders. Could he fire Wales to the World Cup in USA '94? Well no, as it happened, he couldn't. He smacked it against the crossbar. Typical.

Call it a catharsis or some deep-seated desire to mataphoriclaly plonk myself on the psychiatrist's couch, but this will be my sounding board for the frustration, despair and tragi-comic capers that punctuate the life of an average Welsh football fan.

It may be the lifelong pursuit in futility but thanks to Mark Hughes and latterly John Toshack, I've seen the world (well the seedier sides of Europe anyway) and needed counselling by the end of it. Please lads qualify for someting in my lifetime, or at least while I have my own hair. By my reckoning and after the last follicle check I've got until the 2008 European Championships...

Posted by Juan Estupendo at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)