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Toshack targets double celebration
By Paul Abbandonato
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Photo: mumbleswebcam.com
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JOHN TOSHACK last night consigned Paul Parry to the history
books and told his young guns to go out and make it memorable 24 hours
for Welsh football.
Brian Flynn's victorious U21s pulled off a stunning 3-0 triumph in Romania
last night to roar into a play-off spot as they battle for a place next
to the elite in the European Championships in Sweden next summer.
In doing so, Flynn's teens became the first Welsh team of any sort to
top a European qualifying group since the Mike Smith senior Class of 1975
that Toshack and Flynn themselves both played in.
Toshack was beaming at Wales' team hotel in Moscow when news of the stunning
success by the U21s reached him. He challenged the senior side to follow
suit with another massive mission statement for Welsh football when they
go into World Cup battle against Russia this evening.
Toshack has had to reshape his team for the big Group Four qualifier because
of Parry's amazing decision to quit international football, just minutes
after being told he would start the big Group Four clash.
But the cloud left by Parry's bombshell has been lifted. Flynn's charges
brought a smile back to the face of the Welsh game last night and Toshack
(right) is hoping the young guns in his World Cup team, many who qualify
for the U21s, can produce an even bigger upset by shocking the Russians.
Eight of the teenagers of early TwentySomethings who will be on duty in
Moscow tonight - Hennessey, Gunter, Bale, Edwards, Ledley, Vokes, Evans
and Cotterill - were named in the U21 squad for the home clash with the
Romanians last month.
Wales lost that game at the Racecourse 1-0 and many believed the chance
of qualifying for the Euros had gone. But the Welsh eight who are preparing
for their Moscow mission will go into the game at the Lokomotiv Stadium
with an extra spring in their step after news reached them about their
'other' team's triumph.
Toshack beamed: 'I've always said we are united as one and the model put
in place for Welsh football will serve Wales and the FAW very well for
years to come.'
After congratulating Flynn and the U21s, who will know their play-off
opponents at Friday's draw in Stockholm, Toshack's emphasis turns again
today to the game against Russia.
The Wales boss was last night still undecided about whether to play Saturday's
goal hero Sam Vokes, Manchester City's Ched Evans or even under-fire Rob
Earnshaw in the lone striker's role which had been earmarked for Parry.
At yesterday's pre-match media briefing, Toshack at first brushed aside
questions about Parry by saying: 'You can ask me about him, but I'm not
really interested in discussing him. My focus and energy is on the players
we have with us in Russia and which ones are best suited to us getting
a good result against a top, top team.
'They know Russia are a major force, but we've got our own plans about
how to approach this game. Of course, this will be an enormous test for
our young group of players. Clearly Russia and Germany are the favourites
to win the group.
'But we have only lost two of our last eight games away from home, and
one of those matches was in Holland. We drew with Germany in Frankfurt,
beat Slovakia and Bulgaria, so we've got a reasonable run of momentum.'
Pressed further on Parry, Toshack did say: 'People make decisions on the
spur of the moment, even if sometimes it is done without thinking. Whether
you agree with Paul or not, his choice has been made and we move on.
'Yes, he would have been a very useful player to have in Russia because
he would have offered fresh legs and a different dimension to the team
that beat Azerbaijan on Saturday.
'But he's not with us and, while it would be great to have even more options
open to me, there are other forwards who have trained really well over
the last couple of days and are eager to get out there and play for Wales.
'Some players say they don't sense they have been properly involved with
us. Well, my reply to that is that any team can only have 11 players and
a certain quota of substitutes, whether you are Wales, Germany, Russia
or Azerbaijan.
'These days it's very much 14 men against 14 over 90 minutes. The subs
can be very influential in proceedings, so anyone who is on the sidelines
could be involved and called upon at any time. But what's done is done
with Paul. I don't really want to talk about it. We have moved on and
we focus on players with us, not players who aren't.'
Toshack will make one definite change to his starting XI from Saturday,
with Carl Robinson coming in for the injured Jason Koumas next to Carl
Fletcher as a two-pronged midfield shield designed to protect inexperienced
Welsh centre-backs Craig Morgan and Ashley Williams.
The only other switch, it seems, may be up front, although Toshack could
be seen at training yesterday having a deep discussion about tactics with
Earnshaw and he may stick by the former Cardiff City favourite.
'We've got three strikers out here and Earnie is by far the most experienced
of them,' said Toshack. 'On the other hand, we need to think about our
physical presence in and around the Russian penalty area, something Vokes
offered us at the Millennium Stadium.'
He smiled: 'I can let you into a secret... one of them will play!'
WalesOnline.co.uk,
Sep 10 2008
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