https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJBSxza4v-M
Wales 3-1 Belgium: Hal Robson-Kanu scores wondergoal and Sam Vokes adds late goal to put Gareth Bale and Co through after Ashley Williams cancelled out Radja Nainggolan's opener
- Wayne Hennessey and his defence combined for dramatic triple-block in just the seventh minute
- Radja Nainggolan put Belgium ahead in 13th minute with a wonder-strike from outside the box into the top corner
- Neil Taylor denied an equaliser by a sensational Thibaut Courtois save after 25 minutes, as Wales responded well
- Ashley Williams met Aaron Ramsey's corner to head home emphatically and level the scores after half an hour
- Hal Robson-Kanu makes it 2-1 with a sublime turn past three defenders, before an emphatic finish on 55 mins
- Half-time substitute Marouane Fellaini heads wide from five yards out with 17 minutes remaining
- Nainggolan denied a penalty when he goes down in the box as Belgium piled on late pressure in search of equaliser
- But Sam Vokes seals it for Wales with a header in the 85th minute to convert Chris Gunter's cross
- Wales will play Portugal in the semi-final, in Lyon on Wednesday 6 July
Nobody will ever call Wales a one-man team after this. Gareth Bale? He was one of a number on this, the greatest night in the history of Welsh football. Most importantly, he will have been happy to be so.
For this wasn’t about him. It was about all of them. About Hal Robson-Kanu, the striker not considered good enough for Reading, who scored one of the finest goals of the tournament, embodying the spirit of none other than Johan Cryuff as he did.
It was about Sam Vokes, who hadn’t scored a competitive goal for Wales since 2008 against Azerbaijan, yet clinched this game with a header Belgium’s giants would have killed to score. It was about mighty men like Ashley Williams, battered but unbowed, refusing to be invalided out of the biggest game of his life.
And it was about Aaron Ramsey, playing arguably his best game for his country, but now banned for Wednesday’s semi-final with Portugal after a second booking of the tournament, for hand ball – a colossal loss.
Gareth Bale raises two fists to the heavens after Wales recorded a remarkable 3-1 victory of Belgium to reach the semi-finals
Radja Nainggolan smashes the ball goalwards from distance, a blistering strike that flew into the top corner to give Belgium the lead
Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey opted to go for the ball two-handed, and although he got fingertips to the ball he could not stop it
Nainggolan is mobbed by his team-mates, while Wales star Gareth Bale looks dejected after the stunning opener in the 13th minute
Wales captain Ashley Williams rises, almost unmarked, seven yards out to meet Aaron Ramsey's corner and head in the equaliser
Kevin De Bruyne tries to clear the ball off the line, but having come off his post the Manchester City midfielder could not prevent the goal
Williams shows his delight after the equaliser that Wales had thoroughly deserved, and he sets off in celebration with Bale behind him
The captain headed straight for his manager Chris Coleman as the 30th-minute goal sparked raucous celebrations on the Welsh bench
Hal Robson-Kanu fires Wales into the lead after a superb turn to fool three hapless Belgian defenders inside the penalty area
Robson-Kanu, without a club after being released by Reading at the end of this season, celebrates his quite brilliant goal to make it 2-1
Sam Vokes rises above Toby Alderweireld to sublimely head Chris Gunter's cross over Courtois to wrap up the win for Wales
Wales striker Vokes is mobbed by team-mates Joe Allen, Bale and Gunter after his goal sealed an historic win
And yes, it was about the manager, Chris Coleman. What a tournament he has had. If Dan Ashworth, the man charged with finding Roy Hodgson’s successor, wants to see what the DNA of a nation’s football team looks like, he should try watching this game.
The spirit that Coleman has engendered in this Wales team is exceptional, the way they went about earning this victory is everything England aspire to and are not. Character, resilience, confidence, courage, game management – and no little skill.
They went 1-0 down after 13 minutes and came raging back into the game. They were at their most dangerous when Belgium were in the ascendancy.
Tactically and psychologically, Coleman has marshalled this group like no other at the tournament.
He is working with what would be perceived as inferior materials: yet has turned them into collective gold.
Belgium are second best only to Argentina in the FIFA rankings; yet equally, they were second best here. It is Coleman who is doing the impossible job.
Portugal are next up, and if Wales go in as underdogs again, that is only because the loss of Ramsey and defender Ben Davies to suspension might be considered too great a blow.
Ramsey was the man of the match here – setting up two goals, everywhere in midfield, his shock of peroxide hair appearing, not flash, but the calling card of a player determined to stand out at this tournament. And he has, eclipsing even Bale in influence in some games, and certainly on Friday night.
Not that Bale was disappointing. He was just well watched, well accounted for – but that in itself is a contribution too. It means other players are left alone, are given space – as Williams was for the first goal, as Ramsey was when creating the second.
It will have come as some surprise to those who blame English lethargy at tournaments on the absence of a winter break to see this, arguably the most exhilarating game so far.
Of the 22 players that started, 15 are based in England, yet there was little sign of fatigue on either side, until Wales drained Belgium of life with their second-half supremacy.
Belgium were outstanding from the off in both halves and deservedly went ahead, but Wales responded magnificently, got a goal back, forged more chances, got in front and then pulled away with the third, which settled it.
Indeed, far from sitting back and soaking up pressure as many expected, Wales were as comfortable having the ball as chasing it. When the possession statistics flashed up on the board late in the first-half, Wales had 55 per cent.
As with Iceland, it is patronising to suggest they are a team without attacking ambition.
Eden Hazard looks to break away from Joe Allen as Belgium dominated the early stages and looked to get on top in the quarter-final
Ben Davies is shown a yellow card by Slovenian referee Damir Skomina as Wales struggled to keep pace with their opponents early on
Hennessey makes a brilliant save to deny Yannick Carrasco as Wales' defence was opened up for the first time in the seventh minute
After Hennessey made the first save, three Welsh defenders had to throw themselves at a follow-up shot, which was blocked on the line
Hazard cannot believe his luck after a third shot in a matter of seconds is deflected over the bar thanks to some brave defending
Hennessey's finger is snapped back by the power of Nainggolan's shot, which whistled past him and into the top corner
The midfielder celebrates his goal, as Allen and Ramsey are left looking for a way back into the game after just 13 minutes
With three of Belgium’s first-choice defenders missing, coach Marc Wilmots had obviously decided attack was the best option and from one move alone, Belgium spurned three chances to score.
Yannick Carrasco at the far post was kept out by Wayne Hennessey, Thomas Meunier by Neil Taylor and then Eden Hazard by a combination of the two.
Hazard then swung in the corner which Lukaku failed to meet at the far post, unmarked. It was not his only error of a disappointing night.
In the 13th minute, Belgium took the lead. Joe Allen gave the ball away in midfield, Jordan Lukaku went down the wing, found Hazard inside and he slipped the ball into the path of Radja Nainggolan.
It was a goal almost as soon as it left his boot – one of those hits where the audacity of trying the shot is the first thought, quickly erased by the excellence of the result.
It went in like a rocket, Hennessey getting no more than fingertips to the ball and with no chance of altering the trajectory.
For Hazard, it was his fourth assist of the tournament – overtaking the number he recorded for Chelsea through the entire Premier League season. One would like to be a fly on the wall at Jose Mourinho’s holiday resort hearing that information.
Hazard loses his footing after skipping past James Chester as he delivers a cross into the box, with Belgium continuing to threaten
Hal Robson-Kanu, leading the line for Wales alongside Bale, is bundled to the floor by Axel Witsel, as Wales fought back in Lille
Only a superb reaction save from Courtois to deny Neil Taylor prevented Wales levelling on 25 minutes, but it didn't keep them out for long
Williams' header found the corner of the net, as clever movement and an excellent delivery allowed him the perfect opportunity
Williams jumps into his team-mates' arms after scoring the goal that Wales' response to going behind had thoroughly merited
Wales could have crumbled – England probably would – but Coleman’s team is made of sterner stuff. From that reverse, they carved their best chance of the match, and an eventual equaliser.
Ramsey, cut back from the right by-line, Taylor shot first time, but Thibaut Courtois somehow got a hand there, recovering his position across goal.
Five minutes later, Wales equalised. It looked like a rolling maul in the centre of the area before Ramsey’s corner came in, but that was all part of the diversionary plan. When the smoke cleared, there was captain Williams, unmarked. Jason Denayer recognised the danger, but too late, and Williams gave Courtois no chance with his header. De Bruyne had shifted his position on the line and was powerless.
Missed chances cost Belgium dearly. Hennessey’s fingertips took the ball from Romelu Lukaku’s head at a vital moment and the Everton man missed two more, before Hazard cut inside – his trademark move – and curled a shot just wide of the far post.
The crowd at the Stade Pierre Mauroy, predominantly Belgium having popped over the border, must have felt a goal was bound to come. It did, but not in the way they imagined.
We expected Cruyff-like skills at this tournament; just not from Robson-Kanu. The Wales striker doesn’t even have a club right now. Released by Reading, there have been no takers so far. There will be after this.
The greatest goal in Welsh history – in both senses of the word – put his team on the way to the semi-final in their first tournament since 1958. One off the shin would have sufficed, yet the quality was as huge as the siginificance.
Robson-Kanu executed a Cruyff turn in the penalty area of such perfection that Meunier needed his passport to get back in the country. It is a short trip to Belgium and Meunier and several team-mates were well on the way before they realised Robson-Kanu had changed direction.
De Bruyne, Belgium's star throughout the tournament, looks to find a way past Williams, but the Wales defender stands firm
Jason Denayer can only watch on as Robson-Kanu, having tricked his way past a static defence, slots the ball past Courtois
Robson-Kanu's goal saw Wales take the lead against the tournament's highest-ranked side, and put them on course for the last four
Belgium were on top of the time, and had probably grown complacent. Ramsey was allowed to carry the ball upfield untroubled, find Robson-Kanu in a tight space. First he battled to keep Meunier off, then he twisted and pulled the ball inside as the Dutch master would.
And in one leap, he was free. Alone. Only Courtois to beat. Don’t let anyone tell you that, by then, Robson-Kanu had done the hard part. It would have been so easy to miss from there. So easy to panic and rush the shot, or hit it straight at Courtois.
Robson-Kanu placed it, beautifully, and with the same effect as Iceland’s second goal in Nice.
Belgium, from there, looked done. Scared. Jittery. They knew this was their match – their tournament maybe – to win. This is their golden generation.
It’s funny how nobody ever says that of Wales. Maybe that is the secret. Maybe that is what is pushing this team to greater and greater heights.
Certainly, the denouement was unimagined. A Belgian fightback? A Welsh Alamo? Hardly.
With four minutes to go, Chris Gunter crossed from the right and Vokes met the ball with a header in a way a succession of Belgian giants –Lukaku, Marouane Felaini – could not.
Courtois was beaten and so were the tournament’s dark horses. Beaten by the darkest horses of all.
The one man team that is, in reality, about anything but a solitary man.
Bale looks disappointed after spurning a difficult chance, as he continued to create openings against an inexperienced Belgian defence
Ramsey looks to skip past the tackle of Alderweireld, as the Arsenal man looked to unlock the Belgium defence again
Vokes watches on as his late header loops over the despairing dive of Courtois and into the corner to seal a magnificent victory
Wales celebrate in front of their delighted fans as Vokes header confirms their place in the last four, where they will meet Portugal
Coleman and his assistant manager Osian Roberts sing the national anthem before the game on an emotional night for Welsh football
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3670599/Wales-3-1-Belgium-Hal-Robson-Kanu-scores-wondergoal-Sam-Vokes-adds-late-goal-Gareth-Bale-Ashley-Williams-cancelled-Radja-Nainggolan-opener.html#ixzz4DCOsyTOk
