Gareth Bale believes beating Bosnia-
Herzegovina on Friday night will be the
first step to football overtaking rugby in
Wales.
The Real Madrid superstar became the
first player to be named Welsh footballer
of the year for a fourth time at a Cardiff
ceremony on Monday night but it is a
place at the Euro 2016 finals in France
that Bale really craves. Wales have not
qualified for a major tournament since
the 1958 World Cup in Sweden and Bale
reckons that if Chris Coleman’s side were
to end that long wait then even the
national sport of rugby would be
eclipsed.
That would be some task given Wales
have won three Six Nations Grand Slams
in the last 10 years and came within a
penalty kick of reaching the Rugby World
Cup final in 2011, but Bale believes
Welsh football is on the threshold of a
great new era.
“We have massive potential and I want
to make history with Wales and qualify
for a major tournament,” Bale said. “I
feel football can overtake rugby soon. I
remember when I was younger the
Millennium Stadium was full every time I
went to watch.
“Rugby has obviously overtaken it in
recent years but I feel football is on the
incline and we can get a lot of fans to the
games and get the support behind us. It’s
not only important for us as a team to get
to a major championship, but as a nation
as a whole.
“We want to inspire more kids to play
football and become a better national
team.”
Bale spared Welsh blushes in Andorra
last month with his double strike,
including a superb late free-kick winner,
seeing off the Pyrenees part-timers and
ensuring the Euro 2016 campaign would
get off to a winning start.
Despite the loss of the key midfielders
Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen through
injury for this week’s home qualifiers
against Bosnia and Cyprus, expectations
remain high around Coleman’s squad
with Bale providing the stardust to a
group full of Premier League players.
That optimism has been reflected by a
dramatic rise up the Fifa rankings as
Wales have climbed to 29th in the world ,
just two places short of their all-time
high of 20 years ago.
“We’ve been together for quite a long
time now, we get along really well and
it’s really a tight-knit group,” Bale said.
“We’re growing as players and as long as
everyone stays committed and working
hard we can go on to achieve our goals.”
Bosnia are first up at the Cardiff City
Stadium on Friday and it is only four
months since Safet Susic’s side were
gracing the World Cup finals in Brazil.
But Bosnia surprisingly lost their opening
Euro 2016 qualifier at home to Cyprus
last month and Susic’s future is said to
be far from clear.
“We know they’re a very good side, they
showed that by getting to the World Cup
and they’ve obviously got some good
players,” Bale said. “But we believe in
ourselves and hopefully we can get the
victory on Friday.”