Hughes heart set on final mark
Images of Welsh football success are sepia tinted. Now it is up to Mark Hughes, just two play-off matches away best mens canada goose jacket from guiding Wales to a first major tournament finals since the 1958 World Cup, to bring them up to date.
It is a sizeable task more info, reflected by Hughes’s recollections of the Euro 2004 play-off draw in Frankfurt a month ago. Hughes remembers the Russian delegate, scanning the names of potential opponents after his nation’s had emerged from the tombola, audibly willing for one: “Wales, Wales, Wales”.
From where he was sitting next to the Russian deputation, Hughes might have been forgiven for reacting to such condescension, but the fiery forward of old has grown into a mild-mannered and equable manager. He let it go also because “the delegate didn’t even know who I am.” Now, rather, he draws grim satisfaction from canada goose coat 1000 calorie a day diet Russian indiscretions, hoping that when the two sides meet in Moscow on Saturday the perception of Wales burlington coat factory canada goose coat average price for a canada goose jacket as one of European football’s minnows endures.
“The buy canada goose jacket australia Russians looked at the teams that were left and of those Wales would be viewed as one of the weaker nations left,” said Hughes. “So I can understand that their delegate was going ‘Wales, Wales, Wales’ under his breath when Russia came out of the hat.
“I’m not going to criticise them for that but, having canada goose coat 1000 calorie bariatric diet had the chance to view our videos, of how we approach games and the threat we have got they may view us differently.”
Though the Russia coach Georgi Yartsev insists Ryan Giggs must be “neutralised”, the threat Hughes speaks of does not come exclusively from the Manchester United forward. Hughes welcomes the attention on Giggs, confident that his team-mates will profit if they are neglected.
It is a belief that will be borne out by the videos Yartsev must study. Among them there is one from last October that shows Italy paying for underestimation with a 2-1 qualifying defeat at the Millennium Stadium. That set Wales up as potential winners of Group Nine, though one point from the last 12 available relegated them to the play-offs.
Missing out on the finals now would be, for are there any canada goose outlet stores Hughes, wasteful. “I think that four years’ hard work comes down to the outcome of 180 minutes’ football,” he said. “Two initial years were a case of trying to get us to where we need to be for this campaign, and so it’s been a long period in which we’ve worked very hard. So we want buy canada goose jacket online canada to make sure that we complete the job now.”
As a player Hughes was part of the last Welsh team to come close to a major finals, a side that missed out in 1993 against Romania at Cardiff Arms Park after Paul Bodin missed a penalty that would have put Wales 2-1 up. Instead, they lost 2-1. However, though he uses the “underdogs” label to his team’s motivational advantage, Hughes does not wish to make excuses for the relative lack of status in world football.
“Overall I think we’re a lot stronger as a group than any Welsh side before,” said Hughes. “We’re in good shape. If we don’t qualify it will be because the opposition are better than us. It won’t be because we haven’t addressed anything, it won’t be because the players haven’t approached the game in the right manner. It will be because we aren’t good enough. But it won’t stop us trying.”
If they miss out again, Wales will certainly be at the end of a cycle that is likely to see the retirements of the goalkeeper Paul Jones and the defender canada goose coat 1000 calorie a day diet Andy Melville, and possibly the captain Gary Speed. However, Hughes refused to verify recent stories linking him with managerial or coaching positions at Tottenham and Manchester United.
“I’ve no idea if my future is dependent on the next two games,” he said. “I hope I have done enough in my time for it not to best price canada goose jacket outlet usa online store be. But I’m not anticipating making any other decision on my future myself – I’m contracted to 2006.”
It is no great surprise that Hughes’s future is the subject of such speculation. Though only 40, he has more than four years’ experience of international management, 18 months of which were spent desperately trying to turn around a win-less run that eventually stretched to 12 matches.
Club chairmen admire the statistics showing Hughes followed that up with a nine-match unbeaten sequence, putting Wales within grasping distance of Portugal next year.
“Sparky has been a great servant to Wales, a great player and manager yet he’s never reached a finals so it’s quite symbolic,” said Speed, reflecting a resolute mood in the squad. “Yet in his first term he could take us to a major tournament, which would be fantastic for him and for everyone involved.”
Portsmouth’s Alexei Smertin may make his comeback after knee surgery against Wales. The midfielder has been out for six weeks but is preparing to return on Saturday.