Dai @colemans_dream looks at a ten year cycle of hope, broken open by recent Cymru qualification success.
It’s hard to make sense of where we stand at the moment really. A frustrating group, punctuated by a difficult June where loses to Armenia and Turkey put Wales in a seemingly impossible position. Fast forward 5 months and despite more dropped points to Armenia, we are still in with a shout of automatic qualification. Yes we need help, but we have hope. 10 years ago I would have snapped your arm off and offered you a kidney for hope of qualification. Hope.
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Let me take you back to October 2013 – give or take 10 years ago. Wales had concluded a bizarre campaign with a 1-1 draw with Belgium in Brussels. An unbeaten Belgian side it must be noted, who only dropped points elsewhere against a Croatian side in another 1-1 draw. The Croats made the playoffs as runners up despite losing home and away to Scotland. Scotland on the other hand, lost home and away to Wales. A Wales side of course who famously lost 6-1 to Serbia in Novi Sad, and lost the return leg in Cardiff 3-0. My point is, that was one hell of a mixed up group. Sound familiar? Despite all the highlights and notable lowlights, we came out of the 1-1 draw with Belgium on the last night of the group, following a late Aaron Ramsey goal, with hope.
The hope was the tide had turned and we were finally ready to unleash the talents we had and make progress. Perhaps we were ready to take the next step. The step that had eluded us. Hope was all we had then. But we clung to it as tightly as could be because we wanted hope. We needed it.
If you’ll humour me further, 10 years prior again and Wales were concluding a campaign which had seen a famous 2-1 victory over Italy and Wales became the best supported team in Europe for a time. Why? We had hope that finally it would be our time. We went into the final game against Serbia and Montenegro (as it was known then) knowing a win in Cardiff and an unlikely Italy loss to Azerbaijan would see us into Euro 2004. Whilst a frustrating 3-2 defeat would end our automatic dreams, Italy still did their job elsewhere and qualified as table toppers. But Wales were in the conversation. We had a chance of qualifying automatically but the playoffs awaited in the end. Even then, the playoffs seemed a blessed relief compared to the 10 years which had passed prior to that after THAT night in Cardiff against Romania.
I remember after that chastening defeat to Russia as a 19 year old thinking that based on recent history, Wales would get close to qualifying every 10 years. That was our pattern. The wait for 2014 began that night and even then, 10 years later, we were nowhere in reality. But after that draw with Belgium (a bloody draw!) we felt the tide had turned. For once we were right.
Between then and now, we have experienced the most exciting and joyous time in the history of Welsh football. It will likely never be repeated. We have seen the greatest footballer in the history of Cymru propel us to the world stage and the holy grail of the World Cup. 21st November 2022 was the day Wales played their first World Cup game since 1958. It was the first time the Welsh national anthem graced the World stage. And before we’d got there, we’d sung and danced under the rainy grey skies and been serenaded by Dafydd Iwan as Wales defeated Ukraine in one of the most emotional nights I can remember as a football fan. We are still here. Yma o Hyd.
Back to the here and now and another historic 21st November awaits. Hope may well be all we have but 29 year old me would have killed for hope. There are many parallels to the situation that 19 year old me looked ahead to where we needed a win and a favour elsewhere too.
Whilst the time for recriminations and finger pointing may be to come, playoffs or otherwise, Page and others will have questions to answer for our performances in this group. Players too are not free from blame performance wise in this campaign. Both can be at fault too you know – it’s not a one or the other situation. For now, however out of reach it may feel, let’s enjoy what we have.
Hope. The hope that 8 years ago drove us to our finest times in the victorious campaign which ended in France and a semi final. The hope that was dashed by the Irish two years on. Bale’s injury followed by a stunning rendition of the anthem, quietened by a Joe Allen concussion. The journey back to the promised land despite back to back defeats against Croatia and Hungary. That sensational evening where it was indeed “about fucking time” Rambo turned up, in the words of Gareth Bale. Whilst Denmark may have dumped us out of the weirdest Euros of all time, we bounced back to claw our way to the Middle East. We hoped that we could beat Austria and Ukraine. Triumph we did to see Wales grace the greatest stage of them all. However you feel about our performance in Qatar, nothing will take away from me the feeling of being there as Bale crashed home his penalty. So many years on from doing the same with a free kick against Slovakia in a nigh on empty Millennium Stadium. Sheer ecstasy. A moment I never thought would happen, never mind see with my own eyes. Yet there we were as he stood over the ball, filled with hope he’d deliver for us once again.
On we look again to Tuesday night. Yes we need help. Yes we need to beat the table toppers. Yes it’s unlikely. But it’s not impossible and for years impossible is all we have faced. Now we are together stronger. We are still here. We are the sons of Speed and maybe, just maybe hope will once again become reality.
In the words of Chris Coleman, don’t be afraid to have dreams. We have all lived our dreams in the last 8 years or so, after not having the hope we craved. Let’s believe. Let’s dream. Let’s make the most of the situation we are in. We don’t know when it may come around again.
Hope image via https://www.picpedia.org/highway-signs/h/hope.html