Wales have no reason to fear Portugal in their Euro 2016 semi-final on Wednesday and despite key players missing, coach Chris Coleman said he had complete faith in their replacements to do the job.
His team have been one of the big surprises of the tournament, topping a group including neighbours England, dumping out one of the favourites Belgium in the quarter-finals and progressing to highs not seen by the Welsh side since 1958.
“It’s new territory. You will either be blinded by the lights and crawl back to where you came from, or have belief in yourself and stand up for your identity,” Coleman told reporters at his side’s training camp in Brittany on Sunday.
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“You spend too much time thinking about what you don’t want to happen rather than concentrating on what you want to happen. The message has been no fear, there’s nothing to be afraid of.
“We screamed long and hard to be at a major tournament, and as soon as we got here the handcuffs were off. We’re not restricted.”
Coleman’s biggest selection dilemma will be seeing how to replace influential midfielder Aaron Ramsey – who has scored one goal and contributed four assists – and centre back Ben Davies.
Both miss the match in Lyon through suspension, but Coleman was adamant that he had enough strength in depth, team togetherness and tactical ability to overcome the setback.
“They are two outstanding players, but it’s not like we haven’t been without them before,” he said.
“Our biggest gripe before the tournament was that we couldn’t get our strongest team on pitch for enough consecutive games.
“I have no worries about whoever steps in. I don’t worry about these players because they know the drill, what’s expected of them, the game plan that won’t change.”
Coleman sought to play down the hype on the potential rivalry between his talisman Gareth Bale, who has scored three goals at Euro 2016, and Portuguese captain Cristiano Ronaldo, who unlike his Real Madrid teammate has yet to really impress during the tournament.
Coleman said focusing too much on Ronaldo would be detrimental and a distraction to his team because Portugal’s top scorer was capable of doing “something special” at any moment.
“But we have one in our team,” he said, referring to Bale. “It balances itself out. We will just concentrate on what we’re good at. That’s our identity, we’re strong on that.”
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Match info
Deccan Gladiators 87-8
Asif Khan 25, Dwayne Bravo 2-16
Maratha Arabians 89-2
Chadwick Walton 51 not out
Arabians won the final by eight wickets
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Almouneer
Started: 2017
Founders: Dr Noha Khater and Rania Kadry
Based: Egypt
Number of staff: 120
Investment: Bootstrapped, with support from Insead and Egyptian government, seed round of
$3.6 million led by Global Ventures
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Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
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Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
The biog
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The Transfiguration
Director: Michael O’Shea
Starring: Eric Ruffin, Chloe Levine
Three stars
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Alaan
Started: 2021
Based: Dubai
Founders: Parthi Duraisamy and Karun Kurien
Sector: FinTech
Investment stage: $7 million raised in total — $2.5 million in a seed round and $4.5 million in a pre-series A round
MATCH INFO
Manchester United v Brighton, Sunday, 6pm UAE
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Tickets for the August 3 Fight Night, held in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, went on sale earlier this month, through www.etihadarena.ae and www.ticketmaster.ae.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
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Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
