UEFA Euro 2016: England 2-1 Wales
Ladies and Gentlemen, we were given another exciting game and a thrilling finish in this Euro 2016. First off, Gareth Bale and his superb left foot scored a second direct free-kick in this tournament that put the Welch on top at the break 1-0. England came back with more offensive intentions subbing two forwards in the names of Vardy and Sturridge to dynamite a dull English attack in the first half. Both subs scored and gave ENgland a very important to win to lead Group B after two games.
Coach England Roy Hodgson reacts to the dramatic win:
“I’ve got to say, particularly in the second half, it was a very dominant performance and we were very aggressive and bold in our attacking play,” said the Three Lions boss.
It took a lot of incredibly good defending from a Wales back five to keep us out, but we got the two goals and we go home happy.”
They were pushed onto me a little bit earlier than normal but it was always in our thoughts to bring Sturridge and Vardy onto the field, and it was always going to be someone like Wilshere or Rashford when we’re looking for a goal.
We played so well against Russia and lost a goal in the 93rd minute, and today we worked so hard in the second half.
And we push and push and push and it takes until the 92nd minute for us to get our goals, so it does go to show that when people tell us that things even out, it’s very rare to see them even out in the space of two games.
If I’d have been watching from afar and I wasn’t involved with England and watching Wales play some other opponent, I’d probably feel very sorry for them, but you’ll have to excuse me for not feeling sorry for them because I want to be pleased for ourselves.
Chris [Wales boss Chris Coleman] won’t be too disappointed with his team’s performance because I’m sure he’ll be looking forward to the knock-out rounds. In the first half, we did okay but we had to move the ball quicker,” said the Manchester United star.
We were unfortunate to go in at the break 1-0 down but in the second half the manager made some positive changes and it’s paid off for us. I thought we were fantastic in the second half, we moved the ball around well, made Wales work hard, kept the ball and kept probing them and got the win in the end. We showed a lot of character today and everyone in the dressing room is delighted.”
