Perhaps this night was something of a victory after all!
Flagshagger boss Tommy Tuchel said: ‘If you hear just Wales fans for half an hour, it’s sad because the team deserved more support.
‘I would have wished for a bit more support in phases where it gets difficult. In the second half to get behind us, there was a bit too much support for Wales.’
At 11.30pm I bumped into Porthmadog man about town Tommie Collins under the monstrous statue of Alexander the Great (see above) and said I thought we’d played well.
A not untypical torrent of, er, extreme disagreement came back my way and Tommie – ruddy about the face – got even ruddier it seemed in the dark, and strode off. Nice off-pink jacket by the way, Mr Collins, where can I get one?
Perhaps he was right. Perhaps I was. Perhaps we were both right.
Continue reading Karma chameleons – North Macedonia 1 Wales 1
My, times have changed.
Here in the cetacean centre of the world, for one wonderful first half Craig Bellamy gave Wales a strong sense of porpoise, only to get harpooned in a crazy second half.
Ten years ago, Wales drew 0-0 in Moscow in the Euro 2004 play-off first leg. We lost the second leg 1-0 and, on the pitch, have never posed a serious threat to the opposition since.
The weekend was an extraordinary, surreal experience. At one point Cardiff hooligans were negotiating with local idiots to have a fight in Red Square. At the match, we had to barge policemen out of the way to enter the terrace. It was relentlessly crazy – just read Darren Tandy’s amazing tale below to get a sense of what life there is like. Here’s my piece which was first published on the Bobbing Along website:
Continue reading Extreme noise terror – Russia 0 Wales 0 (2003)
Chris Coleman was a picture of puzzled dejection at the press conference following the game.
In effect, as he explained, the Welsh team, though strong, was picked with one eye on not offending club managers.
Miles from Nowhere 