Cymru will renew their rivalry with Belgium at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on Monday 9 June, a decade on from a famous night in Cardiff when Gareth Bale made us all believe.
Between September 2012 and September 2022, Cymru and Belgium played nine competitive games against each other. The fixture became a regular part of the international calendar for both nations as they went head-to-head in two World Cup qualifying campaigns, EURO qualifying and the Nations League. There was also a particularly memorable night in Lille at EURO 2016.
One of the most significant games between Cymru and Belgium took place 10 years ago this week in Cardiff as a solitary goal from Gareth Bale shifted the dynamic of the EURO qualifying group. It was a night that made a nation believe that an appearance at a major tournament may soon become a reality. This was the night where the Red Wall came together and formed a bond with what would become our golden generation.
The early years
The story of this fixture begins back in 1949 with two friendly matches, the first in Liège where Belgium claimed a 3-1 victory. However, a hat-trick from Trevor Ford inspired Cymru to a 5-1 win later that year in Cardiff with Roy Paul and Roy Clarke completing the scoring. The two nations would not meet again until the 1990’s.
In a sign of things to come, Cymru and Belgium were drawn together in three different qualifying campaigns during that decade. In October 1990, the formidable attacking trio of Ian Rush, Dean Saunders and Mark Hughes were on target in a 3-1 win in Cardiff, before Terry Yorath’s side claimed a credible 1-1 draw in the return match the following year.
In March 1993, Ryan Giggs scored the first of his 12 international goals in a 2-0 win over Belgium in the Welsh capital, while the late Gary Speed was on target when they met again in March 1997 as Bobby Gould’s side suffered a 2-1 defeat. Giggs was again on target when they met again in Brussels with Belgium ending that decade of fixtures with a 3-2 victory, Mark Pembridge scoring the opening Cymru goal.
A new era
Chris Coleman would be the next Cymru manager to lead his side into competitive action against Belgium. With the two nations reuniting after a 15 year international absence, an old rivalry returned when they were paired in qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Less than a year after the passing of Gary Speed, Cymru opened the new campaign against Belgium in Cardiff in September 2012. A young squad still struggling to come to terms with the situation, the 2-0 defeat did not come as a surprise, but it did add to the collective frustration and confusion of a football nation in desperate need for something positive to unify it through this darkest of times.
It was a tough campaign for Coleman and his squad, but it ended with optimism for the future as Aaron Ramsey scored a late equaliser in Brussels to earn a 1-1 draw in the final group match a year later. Harry Wilson came off the bench in the closing stages to become Cymru’s youngest-ever player, and it would also be current Cymru head coach Craig Bellamy’s final international appearance.
“We were depleted,” explained Coleman to UEFA in a 2021 interview. “Chris Gunter played at centre-back for us, we had no players. But Aaron Ramsey put in one of the best performances from a Welsh midfielder I’ve ever seen. He was in complete control, he dominated the game, dictated the tempo. He was absolutely fabulous.”
By this time, Coleman had started to put his own mark on the team, and the progress would become apparent when the two countries were placed in Group B for EURO 2016 qualifying. Cymru returned to Brussels in November 2014 and earned a point with a 0-0 draw, but it was the return match in Cardiff the following June that would change the course of our international history.
A defining night for Cymru
Undefeated after five games and heading into the match against Belgium on the back of an impressive 3-0 win away to Israel, Cymru were playing with a new-found confidence and belief, and were backed by an increasingly passionate support. For the first time in a long time, Cymru would take to the field in-front of a capacity crowd at the Cardiff City Stadium, and the memories of those who witnessed it remain vivid.
Also undefeated after their opening five games, Marc Wilmots’ Belgian side included the likes Eden Hazard, Christian Benteke, Thibaut Courtois, Jan Vertonghen and Kevin De Bruyne to name-drop a few. The group favourites, they had already been left frustrated by Cymru twice in Brussels, while Coleman’s side were buoyed by a new energy from the Red Wall that had been missing for too long.
Making his 50th international appearance, Gareth Bale produced the defining moment of the match on 33 minutes. A misplaced header back to Courtois from Radja Nainggolan instead found Bale in space on the edge of the six-yard area. In one movement, he controlled the ball on his chest, turned his body and slotted an uncharacteristic right-foot shot through the legs of the advancing keeper. Cue fist-pumping euphoria.
“You need your big players to perform in the big games,” Coleman explained. “I’m looking at Aaron Ramsey, Ashley Williams, Gareth Bale. When the game came around they were shining like beacons. Every player in our team did what they needed to do, and more. I think Belgium ran out of ideas, because whatever they asked of us, we answered it.”
Although Bale would make the headlines, it was the unsung heroes on the night such like Jazz Richards that showed just how connected this team were. The Red Wall matched the determination, passion and commitment of the side to deal with Belgium’s pressure as they went in desperate search of an equaliser. The final whistle was one of relief, and belief. Cymru were now in pole position in Group B.
“Psychologically, we knew how good they were, but we didn’t mind having a fight with them,” Coleman added. “We were prepared to do anything we needed to do to get through that challenge, and all of our players on the night were absolutely brilliant.” Cymru suffered one defeat in that qualifying campaign, a 2-0 defeat in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was the night that nearly 60 years of hurt came to end as qualification was confirmed in Zenica.
The years that followed
Of course, Cymru and Belgium would meet again one year later. The quarter-finals of EURO 2016 brought the two nations together in Lille, and another memorable night was etched into Cymru football folklore. Despite Nainggolan’s early goal, Cymru responded through captain Ashley Williams, a moment of magic from Hal Robson-Kanu and a superb header from Sam Vokes. A semi-final place assured with a 3-1 victory.
“With every game that passed the players had more confidence in themselves and each other,” said Coleman. “It wouldn’t have really mattered if it was Belgium or whoever, it wasn’t about the opposition. It was about us and getting ourselves right for the game. As soon as they scored, we got into our rhythm and completely took control of the game That put them on the back foot and they didn’t expect that.”
Cymru would exit EURO 2016 at the semi-final stage and at the hands of eventual winners Portugal, the suspensions to Ben Davies and Ramsey forever asking what might have been. The victory over Belgium would also be the last for Cymru in this particular fixture, with two draws and two defeats following in World Cup qualifying in 2021 and the Nations League in the summer of 2022.
Craig Bellamy is writing his own story in this current World Cup qualifying campaign as his Cymru side head into fixtures against Liechtenstein and Belgium. Undefeated in his first eight games as head coach, Bellamy has reignited a belief within his squad which mirrors that of the side that shocked the football world in France nine years ago.
Having previously lived and worked in Belgium during his time with Anderlecht, Bellamy has his own personal association with the country, but his focus now will be on writing a new chapter in this long-standing international story that holds a special place in Cymru football history. A history that tells us that anything is possible.
