Gareth Bale reflects on ‘crazy journey’ as Wales end wait for World Cup place

Gareth Bale has described Wales’ journey from the football wilderness to the World Cup as “crazy”.

Wales qualified for their first World Cup in 64 years by beating Ukraine 1-0 in a pulsating play-off final in Cardiff on Sunday.

But little more than a decade ago, Wales were languishing 117th in the world and ranked below Guyana, Haiti and Mozambique.

Bale was part of that young team and has long been his country’s talisman, inspiring Wales to qualify for the European Championship in 2016 and 2020 and now a first World Cup since 1958.

“It’s been a crazy journey from where we were to qualify for two European Championships and a World Cup,” said Bale.

“It’s literally what dreams are made of, especially for all of us who have been there from the start.

“We’ve paved the way for the youngsters as well, we’ve welcomed them in and it’s hard to describe what it means to us.

“I think we were too young (to have targets) when we started. We were just happy playing for Wales.

“But we’ve been playing with each other for a long time now. You just get better and you grow.

“Players become bigger and stronger and we’ve gelled well as a team. There’s no egos in our team, we just fight for each other.”

Bale became the most decorated British player in Champions League history when Real Madrid beat Liverpool last week.

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