Another positive step for Toshack’s men

Feb 7 2008 Paul Abbandonato, Western Mail

Wales 3-0 Norway

THE last time John Toshack tangled with Norway as manager of Wales, he infamously left his post just three days after as a result of an FAW political minefield he had unwittingly walked into.

That ageing team of 1994, which lost 3-1 at Ninian Park, contained greats of our game such as Rush, Hughes, Southall, Saunders and Speed, but it was hurtling backwards after agonisingly coming within a penalty kick of reaching the World Cup.

Toshack’s Class of 2007 does not contain footballers of such stature, but there is little doubt that under the guidance of their manager, Wales’ young guns are heading in the right direction these days.

There is not much chance of Toshack walking away this time, after the painstaking work he has put in to completely rebuild this Wales team over the past three years. The 2010 World Cup, the campaign Toshack has always aimed for, is just around the corner and this was another stepping stone towards that.

Goals from Carl Fletcher and two from man-of-the-match Jason Koumas accounted for a Norway side containing far more Premiership stars than Toshack was able to muster for this Racecourse friendly, his planning having been savagely hit by injury.

But Wales, inspired by the brilliance of Koumas, the aggression of Fletcher and helped by the defensive organisation Toshack has given them, improved further what is already a pretty decent record for a team so heavily in transition.

Last night’s result made it a run of results which reads: played 14, won seven, drawn four, lost three. Wales haven’t had a sniff of reaching the World Cup since that side who lost to Romania more than a decade ago, but, with the other big guns hopefully back in time for the 2010 qualifiers to help Koumas, expect Toshack’s team to give it a right old go this time around.

What is more, with the Welsh under-21s close to qualifying for the next stage of their version of the European Championships, at the expense of France, no less, the future of our game could hardly be in better hands at the moment.

No-one should get too excited about winning a friendly match against a Norway side who aren’t exactly the force they were in the 1990s. But better to win than not and the Racecourse crowd were certainly happy enough with the standard of football produced on a pitch which looked as if it had staged the Horse of the Year show the night before!

No Bellamy, Bale, Gabbidon or Collins meant Toshack’s resources were going to be stretched to the limit last night and in the end he was only able to name a team containing one Premiership regular at the moment in the shape of skipper Simon Davies.

It was somewhat ironic then that whereas Toshack struggled for fit Premiership figures, Norway were able to pick a team containing no fewer than six of them. More food for thought for the brigade who say foreign imports are preventing the emergence of home-grown British stars.

Another Welsh Premiership regular, Manchester United skipper Ryan Giggs, was sitting in the main stand at the Racecourse watching Wales in person for the first time since his decision to end his international career after the game with the Czech Republic last June.

Giggs went into the dressing room before the game to congratulate the Welsh youngsters he once helped to groom as their captain on the commendable recent run of results. He will also have been impressed with the endeavour, effort and organisation he saw from them, if less overwhelmed by the state of the Wrexham pitch.

The normally excellent playing surface has been hit badly by the recent rain and in many areas it resembled a cabbage patch, making the sort of silky, passing football you expect at international level nigh on impossible.

There was a time when that might have suited Wales against more technically-gifted continental opposition, but not these days. Toshack has spent three years painstakingly trying to get his team to patiently pass the ball around from the back, but conditions last night limited the team early on and it was only in the second half that they were able to produce the excellent pass-and-move football the manager wants.

The one Welsh player who did adapt to the surface right from the first minute was Fletcher. It was appropriate, then, that he was the man who drove Toshack’s men into a 15th-minute lead, with his first international goal in his 27th appearance for his country.

Fletcher was putting in tigerish challenges to win the midfield battle and put Wales on the front foot, but no-one quite anticipated what happened next.

Freddy Eastwood played the ball beyond the Norwegian defence and Fletcher surprisingly left his marker standing for pace as he aggressively chased after it. Having got there first with a turn of pace we don’t often see from him over 20 yards, Fletcher then made sure his endeavour was not wasted as he calmly slipped the ball beyond Norway goalkeeper Opdal and into the far corner of the net.

It was one of the few highlights inside either penalty area during the first 45 minutes, but Wales did threaten again towards the end of the half.

Fletcher was again at the hub of the move when he played a superb reverse ball toward Koumas out on the right. In one moment of magic, the Wigan man controlled the ball on the volley and cut inside two Norwegian defenders, only to put his left foot shot straight at Opdal.

The more the game went on, the more Koumas was finding his touch and he represented the biggest danger to the Norwegians as Wales looked to supplement their lead.

At the other end of the pitch, Hennessey was by and large untroubled in the Welsh goal, his only real moment of danger coming a minute before the interval when Pedersen saw a shot sneak into the side netting.

In the end, it was a more comfortable night than Hennessey could have expected as he made way for Lewis Price at the start of the second half, with David Edwards also coming on for Joe Ledley as the inevitable raft of substitutions started.

Three more followed shortly afterwards, Cotterill for Davies, Craig Davies for Eastwood and Eardley for Ricketts, but Wales gained in momentum, rather than lost their way.

Twice within the space of 60 seconds Toshack’s team hit the post, first Edwards, after he had been put away by Koumas, and then Koumas himself.

But another goal was coming and it duly arrived in the 62nd minute, with Koumas the inevitable scorer. The Wigan man sent Gunter away down the left, collected a return pass, cut inside his defender and calmly ‘passed’ his shot into the net to continue his highly impressive recent run of goals for Wales.

Koumas deserved that goal and, as the game wore on, he began to completely dominate proceedings.

His passing and dribbling on such a poor surface were of the highest quality and Norway could do nothing to halt the Wigan man.

It was fitting then that Koumas had the final word in the 89th minute, collecting Edwards’ cross from the left and once more coolly tucking the ball into the Norwegian net for the third goal.

A highly satisfactory end to a highly satisfactory evening for Koumas, Wales and Toshack.