July 6 – Their motto is Stronger Together and it has worked a treat so far. Can Wales, the smallest country population-wise ever to get this far, now carry on living the dream when they face Portugal in the Euro 2016 semi-finals tonight?
The contrast could not be greater. Whilst this is virgin territory for the Welsh, it will Portugal’s fourth semi-final in the last five editions of the competition stretching back to 2000 but for all this they have still not yet been able to clinch the title having lost to Greece in the final 12 years ago. Throw in defeat in the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup and Portugal have become the nearly men of world football.
That will uppermost in Cristiano Ronaldo’s mind as he locks horns with Real Madrid colleague Gareth Bale in a mouth-watering tussle to see who comes out on top.
It’s not difficult to work out which side is under the most pressure in Lyon. The Welsh are in their first major tournament for 58 years having exceeded all expectations but another Portuguese defeat would be devastating both for Ronaldo and the whole country.
Yet Chris Coleman’s side are arguably the form team coming into the match and have revelled in their underdog status, highlighted by sweeping past heavy favourites Belgium in the quarters.
Portugal, by contrast, are yet to win a match at the tournament inside 90 minutes, having drawn all three group games, beaten Croatia in extra time and squeezed past Poland on penalties. But perhaps the fact they have yet to click is the biggest danger for Wales who may reach the end of the road deprived of the services of suspended pair of Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies, both of whom will be hard to replace.
Portugal will be without William Carvalho through suspension whilst there are concerns surrounding the fitness of Pepe, who has marshalled defence that has been tough to break down but who has picked up a problem with his thigh muscle and did not train on Monday.
“It’s not about two players. We know and everybody knows that it’s about two nations in the semi-final – 11 men against 11,” insisted Bale on the eve of the biggest sporting event in his country’s history. “Ronaldo is a fantastic player, everyone knows what he can do. But we don’t worry about the opposition. We just do what we do. It’s about how we perform as a team.”
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