Bale: Bosnia defeat the ‘best loss’

“It’s probably the best loss of my life”, Wales and Real Madrid star Gareth Bale said.

Belgium also qualified for the finals in France next year as they leapfrogged Wales into first place at the top of the group with a 4-1 win in Andorra while Italy went through after their 3-1 win in a Group H match in Azerbaijan.

Wales are usually the almost men in qualifying campaigns.

“I’ll never forget the feeling sitting in the dressing room when we lost to Romania in 1993”, said Coleman of the 2-1 defeat in Cardiff when Wales needed a win to qualify for the 1994 World Cup.

Bosnia substitute Milan Djuric scored the first and set up the second for striker Vedad Ibisevic as they maintained their chance of a playoff place. The turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable.

It took only 11 minutes for the Paris Saint Germain midfielder to produce an instant of magic, finding Eder in space with a first-timer from just over the half-way line for the Brazil-born forward to run in unchallenged to beat Kamran Agayev down low.

“I said at the start of the campaign it would be my proudest moment if I could [lead the team to Euro 2016] and it definitely is”.

For Belgium, qualifying was more routine. “We’ve missed out so many times, so to finally do it is an unbelievable feeling”.

“We’ve played like a good worldwide outfit and that’s why we’ve got results”.

Despite losing on the night, the Wales players dived in unison, cheered, hugged and jumped for joy with the several hundred travelling fans, all of them forgetting decades of failure after a long sought-after success. Turkey’s impressive 2-0 win in Czech Republic – secured through Selcuk Inan’s penalty and a Hakan Calhanoglu goal – keeps them two points clear in third.

“We have been really hard to beat and that can be risky in a tournament like that”.

“This is right up there (in my career) – this was one of my dreams of things to do”.

Cyprus’ 2-1 victory in Israel stamped their passport to France next summer and Bale will now avoid joining the illustrious Welsh players of the past who failed to play at a major tournament. “It doesn’t stop here, we have business to do in France”. We’ll obviously enjoy tonight, and we need a bit of time for it to sink in. Norway coach Per-Mathias Hogmo watched his charges win a third straight qualifier as Alexander Tettey got a 19th minute opener by bundling home a loose ball after his initial effort was blocked by the ‘keeper Andrew Hogg. “It will nice to be able to test ourselves in the best tournament of the world, and we can’t wait”.

While Coleman deserves all the acclaim that will come his way over the coming days and weeks, the part that a couple of his predecessors played in reviving Welsh football should not be overlooked.