Euro 2016: Gareth Bale Says Wales Aim To Win Whole Tournament

But at 1-0 there can always be a set piece or something. He stood tall in the face of constant German pressure, he was big and courageous as he batted away everything that Joachim Low’s side had to throw at him, using every part of his body to do so.

“This tournament is a very big goal for us, because if you can manage to win the European Championships as well as the World Cup that is all you can achieve as a national team player”.

And his future earning power was given a real boost after McGovern saved Northern Ireland from a German beating on Tuesday that could have sent the team home from its first major tournament in 30 years.

“We believe we could certainly get by Wales but equally we know that on any given day we’d be a match for any team”.

“They have very similar team spirit to us”, he added.

“It is a game we can win, we will concentrate on ourselves as we usually do and take it from there”. They’re having a great tournament.

“We did what we’d done in training and what the fans wanted us to do: Get in behind”, he said. We showed great character and we worked ever so hard.

“He is a very good, talented young player”. The Fermanagh man admits though that it was a mentally draining evening as he withstood the German barrage and he is proud of his efforts at Parc des Princes.

“Northern Ireland are more physical than Turkey”, he said.

“We would love to win it, but all our focus now is on Northern Ireland”. We know our side of the draw.

Ireland needed to secure an unexpected victory over confident Italy to hold any hope of reaching the knockout stages and, partly thanks to Antonio Conte’s decision to field an understrength team, they pulled it off in Lille. “Roy has been brilliant with me”.

“Strangely I was thinking back to our game in 1996 when I was watching it”, admitted St Johnstone boss Wright. Obviously we are both vying for the jersey but that doesn’t affect our friendship and support for each other. I’m really pleased for him. But perhaps Roy Hodgson’s men should be more anxious about their actual opponents, Iceland, who booked second place in Group F thanks to Arnor Traustason’s dramatic late victor against Austria. “Football’s a amusing game, I wouldn’t have thought that even a year ago that I would be swapping jerseys with Manuel Neuer! The whole experience of this Euros has been an absolute dream”, he commented.

“No matter who we come up against we’ll fancy our chances”.

The 32-year old kept a clean sheet in Northern Ireland’s 2-0 win over Ukraine, denying scoring opportunities to the likes of Yarmolenko and Konoplyanka time and again. “We want more”, he concluded as the modest keeper looked forward with some relish to another massive worldwide game on Saturday or Sunday.