Wales exited the World Cup earlier, and to be honest pretty much as expected after another poor performance against an England side that has won Group B with a 3-0 win in Qatar tonight. The USA beat Iran 1-0 in a tense game which see’s them through in second place. Wales have finished bottom in the group of four.

Wales never really got up a head of steam in any of their three games and disappointed throughout the tournament, not least their performance levels which were very poor. Rob Page spoke after the game saying. “It was just a massive effort from all the group and I couldn't be more proud of them. To get here is a massive achievement. My message is, don't be disappointed. We've got to build for the future again now. Five minutes before half-time, Gareth felt his hamstring. Joe Allen and Ben Davies had to come off as well. It was a massive effort from all the group and I couldn’t be more proud of them”

We all had some hope that the national side would perform at least decently against the USA and Iran, but events maybe - and age conspired against them. From the fanfare of Tylorstown to the glitz of Qatar it really didn’t happen for Wales. The red wall as ever were magnificent, in the main battling through ridiculous rulings introduced a few hours before games, be that flag sizes, the content, bloody rainbows or a drinks ban. From the paperwork fiascos and app issues which left hundreds if not thousands in the midday heat against the USA, and the ridiculous bureaucracy at Qatar airport the red wall shone.

Gareth Bale who had a tournament to forget said post match. “Everyone’s disappointed but we’re all proud of what we’ve achieved to get here. We have to look how far we’ve come. Of course we wanted to get out of the group, but football’s difficult. We didn’t live up to our expectations at this tournament. If you’d told us two years ago that we would play in a World Cup, we’d have all pinched ourselves. We’ll all walk out of that changing-room with our held high and proud of each other. It’s been difficult at this tournament, we haven’t played very well. But we’ve given everything and we won’t have any regrets. I’ll keep going as long as I can and as long as I’m wanted. It’s a difficult moment now but we go again”

Dan James looked dejected after the game. “We knew it would be tough. I thought we defended well at times but they can score with anything. They scored a great free-kick, and then conceding the second goal straight away killed us a little bit. We’re super-gutted. We’re proud to be here and we’ll concentrate on trying to qualify for the next Euros. I just wanna say thanks to the fans — they’ve been unbelievable”

Really this tournament should signal the end for numerous players, Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale included. We know Chris Gunter and John Williams were along for the ride, and to an extent with such a lack of depth in the squad that was to be expected. The real issue now is that Joe Allen is again injured, and despite all the finance that Swansea City will receive for him Ben Cabango and Ollie Cooper that’s isn’t good news.

Swansea eyes will turn to Joe Allen in the morning, and will be hoping for good news, we can only hope as well. But thankfully it’s over. And Wales are coming home.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

ReslovenSwan1 added 22:37 - Nov 29 Red wall magnificent?. 0-3 to the sheep sha@ggers " "we know what we are" Yeah what a bunch of heros. Dancing to the tune of the racist Saxons pipers. The bad days are coming Perhaps it is for the best. Team was shit and fans were worse. Cymru am byth.
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