Robert Page’s side looked off the pace and lethargic as they opened Euro 2020 with a draw against Switzerland
Stinking out a major tournament is an experience that most middling countries endure at some point and, for a long time in Azerbaijan, it looked as if Wales might be preparing for an unwelcome coming of age. All those nostalgic Euro 2016 features before their opening game of the latest tournament were fine and dandy but one wondered whether part of the point had been lost amid the reminiscing.
In France five years ago Wales showed on their return from big tournament irrelevance that there was no need for any inferiority complex; they were a force to be reckoned with. And before facing Switzerland they even had the advantage of getting an effective pre-match pep talk from their Group A rivals, Italy having demonstrated on Friday night the merits of boldness, intensity and relentlessness. Instead Wales seemed to take inspiration from Turkey as they made a sluggish, ragged start. This was not composure bred by their feats at Euro 2016; it looked more like lethargy or muddled thinking. Maybe the heat and the vast spread of empty seats sapped zest but Switzerland seemed relatively immune to those drawbacks. Wales looked like a creature from a children’s book, a dragon afraid of fire.
Related: Kieffer Moore makes point for Wales against Switzerland at Euro 2020
Related: Wales 1-1 Switzerland: Euro 2020 – as it happened
Continue reading...