Welsh manager Chris Coleman was ecstatic with his side’s historic progression to the quarterfinals of Euro 2016, despite a drab 1-0 win over Northern Ireland in Paris.
Fancied as the favourites heading in to the match, Wales found it difficult to break down a compact Northern Ireland who completely stifled the Welsh midfield, with the likes of Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey well beaten.
Wales’ blushes were sparred when a brilliant Gareth Bale cross was tapped into his own net by Northern Ireland’s Gareth McAuley midway through the second half, with Wales hanging on for the win.
Coleman said he expected a difficult match, but was still surprised at just how great a task Northern Ireland posed.
“I thought we didn’t really play well at all today. It was not our fault, credit to Northern Ireland,” he said.
“It was an ugly win for us, but who cares. It is a good sign that in three out of the four wins we’ve had to win differently.”
“I was not looking forward to this game in the sense it was going to be a tough one. With this game there was so much riding on it. It was really going to take a bit of luck and we got that with the goal we scored.”
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
With Bale again involved in driving the attacking advances of his team, Coleman was full of praise for the Real Madrid star and spoke of the emotion surrounding the match.
“Gareth is clearly a special player,” he said.
“For us, he is special not just because of his talent on the pitch, but it is what he represents. His type of mentality is infectious. He appreciates what he has around him with his teammates and his teammates appreciate the special talent.”
“Team spirit comes through winning games like this.”
“For our fans, they should keep dreaming. They deserve to.”
Wales have surprisingly struggled against British teams thus far this tournament, with performances against England and Northern Ireland notably poorer than the Russia and Slovakia matches.
Coleman could not quite put his finger on it but hoped that his side had seen their last British Derby.
“It was tougher than I expected to be honest. For us we would have been better off facing Turkey, not because it would have been an easier game, but a different type of game,” he said.
“We are not comfortable being the team expected to win. We are used to being the underdogs and that’s when we play at our best.”
“We can never look past the next challenge because we can not afford to.”
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