A curious sight on the tram on the way to Bordeaux’s Matmut Atlantique stadium: Among the supporters declaring themselves, in song and accent, as proudly Welsh was a young man, probably in his 20s, with a Wales flag draped tight around his shoulders and upper body. But look harder, in the close crush of a crowded carriage, and you could see what he was wearing underneath the big red dragon.
It was a replica England shirt, brand new, the Euro 2016 tournament edition.
Perhaps he was half Welsh, half English, or has a family tree that extends to both sides of the border between these two of Great Britain’s four nations. There are plenty of folk like that, including some who will take the field on Thursday in Lens, for what is being called a ‘derby’, Wales versus England, a match which could well determine what the summit of Group B ends up looking like.
Perhaps he is one of those tournament-enthusiasts who simply takes in whatever game he can find tickets for, and chooses an allegiance for each one. To join the Welsh cavalcade has been a joyous experience so far, and to be among the best grandstand choirs in the tournament.
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To be among the England followers ... well, in Marseille on Saturday, it was to be close to violence. Thursday’s fixture has an edginess about it in the wake of events in the south, although Russia’s fans have been punished as the aggressors in the incidents that took place in the Stade Velodrome at the end of England’s 1-1 draw with Russia.
That draw left the English trailing in the British joust for pre-eminence in the group. Wales will take on an England that they have not beaten since 1984 buoyed by the determination they brought to bear on Slovakia in their opening game, a 2-1 win, three points secured by Hal Robson-Kanu’s late, scuffed goal.
“There’s no need for us to change,” Chris Coleman, the Wales manager, said. “We’ll be ready. If we get our game right, it’s enough for us to get what we need and there’s nothing for us to be afraid of.” He was not, he added, interested in “playing any mind games.”
He happily left that to his players. Gareth Bale, excellent against Slovakia, told reporters with a smile that none of England’s squad would merit a place in Wales’s XI, an XI that on Saturday included men employed at Reading, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Milton Keynes Dons, clubs beneath the Premier League, the elite, wealthy home to all of England’s footballers.
A neutral assessment of their relative strengths might decide that, of the Welsh, only Bale, Aaron Ramsey and perhaps Ashley Williams the defender, would merit a place in England’s team, but probably no others.
“They have more players to choose from,” acknowledged Bale, “but we feel we have closed the gap.” And England have no reigning European club champion, as Real Madrid’s Bale is.
But they could leave Jamie Vardy, Premier League Player of the Year and scorer of 24 goals towards Leicester City’s league title among the substitutes against Russia. Wales’s supersub was Robson-Kanu, currently out of contract.
Robson-Kanu, 27, won caps for England, where he was born, at under-19- and under-20 level before switching allegiance to Wales, where his mother has roots. He played alongside England’s Jordan Henderson as an England junior. He played in the Arsenal youth ranks alongside England’s Jack Wilshere. There are many such ties. Before Madrid, Bale was at Tottenham, where his Wales teammate, Ben Davies, has struggled for starts because the England left-back Danny Rose, owns the position there.
But Davies, Robson-Kanu and above all Bale can look down on their friends and club colleagues, past and present, right now. They have three points, England have one. The Principality is closer to the next round of Euro 2016 than the dominant nation of the United Kingdom.
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