Euro 2016: Wales proud to be last of the Home Nations left in tournament as they prepare for Belgium clash
But some of the players must forgo alternative summer plans as they aim to reach semi-finals
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Your support makes all the difference.Wales players Neil Taylor and Chris Gunter do not regret celebrating England being knocked out of Euro 2016 on Monday night, after video of the squad doing so leaked online.
Swansea City left-back Taylor explained on Tuesday that they were celebrating because Iceland had won, not because England had lost.
"We don't regret it,” Taylor said at the Welsh camp at Dinard. “The lads were having a bit of fun, enjoying Iceland. It wasn't meant to come out but that's social media these days.”
Taylor insisted that Wales had a long-standing sense of solidarity with Iceland, another smaller nation who have surprisingly reached the quarter-finals of the tournament.
“It was a bit of a laugh,” explained Taylor, who pointed to his friendship with Swansea team-mate Gylfi Sigurdsson. “We have enjoyed Iceland all the way through, they've been unbelievable. Gylfi was talking to me back at Swansea what they were like. When you sit down and think about Iceland, the population, what they've done. It's unbelievable, that applies to a lot of countries in this tournament.”
Gunter admitted that being the last of the Home Nations in Euro 2016 was a source of some pride, but said that he did not want the Welsh players’ glee to be misinterpreted. “It may be easy to see it as over the top, But it wasn’t meant that way,” Gunter said. “If you ask the squad as a whole, maybe from a selfish point of view, we’re ever so proud to be the last home nations team in tournament. We’ve come such a long way, and football has a funny way of bringing out emotions. It is fantastic for the tournament that Iceland are still in it.”
Wales play their quarter-final against Belgium on Saturday but it will be a difficult few days for Gunter, because his brother Marc is getting married in Mexico next week. This means that Gunter himself will almost certainly not be able to attend the wedding, especially if Wales beat Belgium and reach the semi-finals.
Marc Gunter flew from Gatwick airport to Mexico having been in France for Wales’ first four Euro 2016 matches. Chris Gunter said that his brother was “devastated” to be missing the Belgium game to get married. But Gunter’s parents have had to cancel their re-arranged flights out to Mexico, scheduled for Saturday, because they will be in Lille for the game. This means that Mr and Mrs Gunter face a logistical nightmare and the prospect of a very difficult choice between their two sons. If Wales beat Belgium they will play Portugal or Poland in Lyon next Wednesday, the day before the wedding itself.
“If you speak to my parents and they’re fuming,” Gunter said with a wry smile. “It’s Marc’s own fault. It’s caused chaos. You wouldn’t begin to imagine the trouble it’s caused. I don’t think my dad cares either because Marc probably doesn’t want to be there himself. It’s crazy really but it’s just one of those things.”
Taylor has had to make a sacrifice of his own due to Wales’ continued involvement at the Euros, having booked tickets to see pop star Beyoncé at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Thursday. Taylor initially booked the tickets for his wife Genna-Lea but she is in France following the Wales team.
Taylor is relishing Friday’s game with Belgium and recalled playing away in October 2013 in the match when Belgium celebrated their qualification for the 2014 World Cup, a stage that Wales were then desperate to reach.
“We said in the dressing room, this is exactly what we want, what they have just had out there” Taylor remembered. “We were thinking that is a nation that was expected to qualify as well and look at the euphoria around it. That was our aim, that’s where we want to get. Now we are saying our aim is can we be at the next tournament and tournament after and can the grassroots produce more players. The goalposts keep moving and it is our job to keep succeeding so that happens.”
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