{"id":225485,"date":"2016-06-26T07:56:01","date_gmt":"2016-06-26T07:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=225485"},"modified":"2016-06-26T07:56:01","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T07:56:01","slug":"wales-into-euros-quarters-after-own-goal-sees-off-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=225485","title":{"rendered":"Wales into Euros quarters after own goal sees off Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wales reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 as Gareth McAuley’s own goal gave them victory over Northern Ireland in a tense last-16 encounter.<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland shaded much of the game and largely snuffed out Wales’ attacking threat, but they also lacked a cutting edge in attack.<\/p>\n

Wales only managed one shot on target and the game was settled by the one moment of real quality at Parc des Princes.<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland’s resistance was finally broken when centre-back McAuley turned Gareth Bale’s low, whipped cross into his own net.<\/p>\n

It means Wales – in their first major tournament finals since the 1958 World Cup – will face Belgium or Hungary in the last eight in Lille on Friday.<\/p>\n

Chris Coleman’s side were blunted by their dogged opponents, but the scrappy nature of victory and the winning goal will matter little to their jubilant fans.<\/p>\n

For Northern Ireland, the manner of defeat was galling, particularly for the 63-cap McAuley, who had scored in the 2-0 group win against Ukraine, which had helped his country reach the round of 16.<\/p>\n

O’Neill’s men sturdy, but defeated<\/h3>\n

Both sides were playing a first match in the knockout stages of a major tournament since 1958, when they reached the World Cup quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Parc des Princes was awash with green and red as fans mingled and revelled in the enormity of the occasion – but the match failed to ignite during a cagey first half.<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland’s intention to frustrate their opponents was clear, depriving Wales of space with a careful pressing game held together by rigid positional discipline.<\/p>\n

They also posed a counter-attacking threat, with one early break leading to a chance for Stuart Dallas, whose shot was saved by Wayne Hennessey.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Bale's<\/div>\n<\/div>
NI did a good job of restricting Bale for the first hour of the game. The Welshman’s touch map shows how deep he had to come for the ball<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bale delivers – without scoring<\/h3>\n

Having beaten Russia so impressively in their final group game, Wales seemed neutered by Northern Ireland’s containing strategy.<\/p>\n

Coleman’s men had struggled for goals during qualifying – scoring 11 in 10 matches – and this match demonstrated their occasional shortcomings against well-organised defences.<\/p>\n

Bale saw one of his trademark dipping free-kicks saved by Michael McGovern but the Real Madrid forward’s threat in open play was subdued.<\/p>\n

That was until the 75th minute, when he unleashed a fizzing ball across the six-yard box and the sliding McAuley deflected the ball into the net.<\/p>\n

This was the first match of the competition in which Bale failed to score, but his major contribution to Wales’ winner was yet another example of the 26-year-old’s ability to rise to the biggest occasions.<\/p>\n

O’Neill angered by Wales<\/h3>\n

Tempers boiled over as Northern Ireland chased a late equaliser, with manager Michael O’Neill furiously animated on the touchline as he accused Wales of time-wasting.<\/p>\n

Ashley Williams and Jonny Williams both received treatment on the pitch after colliding into each other, with the former holding his arm afterwards in a way which he suggested he may have broken or fractured part of it.<\/p>\n

There was a heated exchange between O’Neill and Williams, with the Northern Ireland boss later claiming Wales coaches on the bench had told their captain to sit on the pitch to waste time.<\/p>\n

The Swansea City centre-back stayed on the field until the final whistle but, with his arm in a sling afterwards, he could be a doubt for Wales’ quarter-final on Friday.<\/p>\n

Man of the match – James Chester<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\"James<\/div>\n<\/div>
The defender continued his fine form with an immaculate defensive display of concentration and perfect timing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What they said<\/h3>\n

Wales manager Chris Coleman on BBC One:<\/b> “The good thing about these boys when we’re not playing well is that they have spirit. And at times we were hanging on.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

“I’d rather be standing here in the quarter-final not playing at our best. We have to give credit to Northern Ireland – they made it very difficult to play against. They were the better team.<\/p>\n

“We have to plan for the next game whoever it is. We’ll enjoy this tonight.”<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill on BBC One:<\/b> “It’s devastating. We were the better team on the day.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

“I couldn’t ask anything more of the players throughout the tournament.<\/p>\n

“Gareth McAuley knows he has to make one of those decisions on the cross – he had to judge whether there was someone behind him or not.”<\/p>\n

The stats you need to know<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Wales have reached the quarter-finals as they did in their last major tournament (World Cup 1958).<\/li>\n
  • Northern Ireland have won none of their past nine games against Wales (D4 L5).<\/li>\n
  • Wales have lost only two of their nine games at major tournaments.<\/li>\n
  • Northern Ireland scored an own goal for the first time since October 2011, which was also scored by Gareth McAuley (v Italy).<\/li>\n
  • There have now been three own goals at Euro 2016, more than any previous European Championship finals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    What next?<\/h3>\n

    Wales will wait to see who wins Sunday’s last-16 tie between Hungary and Belgium before facing the victor in Lille on Friday. Northern Ireland head home after a memorable tournament, which included a victory over Ukraine in the group stage.<\/p>\n

    –<\/p>\n

    Source: BBC Sport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Wales reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 as Gareth McAuley’s own goal gave them victory over Northern Ireland in a tense last-16 encounter. Northern Ireland shaded much of the game and largely snuffed out Wales’ attacking threat, but they also lacked a cutting edge in attack. Wales only managed one shot on target and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":225486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=225485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/225486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=225485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=225485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=225485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}