Pressure on Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey to Succeed Where Giggs Failed for Wales

Ryan Giggs seemed to play forever for Manchester United, yet almost never for Wales.

In a 24-year professional career that saw him represent United 963 times, Giggs made just 64 appearances for his national team. To put that into some sort of context, James Milner is already on 49 caps for England—and he only made his debut five years ago.

Injury was a contributing factor in Giggs’ limited involvement, but so too was an unspoken—but fairly evident—desire to preserve himself for his club commitments. When Giggs retired from the international arena as a 34-year-old he cited a desire to prolong his United career as a key factor; the reality was that he had already been doing that for a number of years.

Wales were never likely to reach an international tournament, so for Giggs a number of qualification games (and almost every friendly encounter) came with more risks attached than potential rewards. On more than one occasion timely knocks kept him from joining up with Welsh squads, eliminating any risk of him picking up a more serious problem in pursuit of a fruitless cause.

The one occasion Wales did come close to reaching a major tournament was in 2003, after they finished second (behind Italy) in qualification for the 2004 European Championships. Giggs started in all eight of those group games, scoring once in the 4-0 rout of Azerbaijan.

Wales’ finish earned them a play-off place in which they were unlucky enough to be drawn against Russia. But a 0-0 draw in Moscow left Mark Hughes’s side a home win away from a first international tournament since 1976.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. Wales edged the game at the Millennium Stadium, but after Vadim Evseev had headed his side into an undeserved lead, Russia held on. Giggs missed arguably his side’s best chance, poking a shot against the post moments before half-time.

It was as close as Giggs was to get to that particular dream, as he joined the likes of George Best as one of the greatest players never to grace an international tournament. The near-miss had seemingly re-stoked his passion for the international game, but with Giggs not the only member of that Wales team entering the latter stages of his career, making that last step up was never likely to be feasible.

"This is as low as I've felt in football,” Giggs told BBC Sport that night. "The only way to get over disappointments in football is to look to the next challenge.” 

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Giggs cannot be blamed for Wales’ shortcomings during his playing career; like Best he had the misfortune of being a supreme individual talent in a country whose size and circumstances made producing even one such player statistically surprising. Yet barely a decade on from that close-but-no-cigar moment in Cardiff, head coach Chris Coleman now finds himself blessed with two world-class talents to build his Dragons side around.

In attack he has Gareth Bale, the most expensive player in the world and one of the jewels in Real Madrid’s dazzling crown. Then in midfield he has Aaron Ramsey, a player rapidly emerging at Arsenal as one of the Premier League’s most impressive all-round talents. These are two players almost any club side, let alone a national team, would love to have at their disposal; how Giggs would have loved to play alongside either during his time.

Wales’ talent is not limited to Ramsey and Bale, however, with a number of players in the squad now established at Premier League level. Swansea City stalwart Ashley Williams marshals a defence that includes Neil Taylor and Ben Davies, while Liverpool’s Joe Allen and Crystal Palace’s Joe Ledley can partner Ramsey in a midfield that has tasted title pursuits and Champions League campaigns.

Coleman’s squad not only has talent but some depth too (except perhaps in attack). In long qualification campaigns, that can be equally significant.

That cohort of players has led some to dub this a “golden generation”—a phrase that has typically proved to be more a curse than a premonition, as any England fan might tell you.

Allen told reporters this week: 

"

We obviously know that there's quality in the squad. I think a lot of the players have been together for quite a long time as a group, which makes us feel like we've got a great chance. I think the 'golden generation' is a matter of opinion for some people and for other people to discuss. We try not to focus too much on that. 

"

In a group that includes Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel, Cyprus and Andorra, Wales would surely like their chances of qualification (most likely via play-off) even under the old format, where 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

For the first time, however, the 2016 Euros will involve 24 of the 53 European participating nations—meaning a third-place finish in Group B could be enough to secure automatic qualification and will guarantee at least a play-off berth. While it might be a dangerous oversimplification to make, on the eve of the campaign—the first game is away to Andorra—it would seem Wales are in a head-to-head battle with Israel for that third spot.

The odds, previously so against Wales (and other smaller nations) that Giggs occasionally struggled to see the point, now seem to have been tipped back in their favour.

“It's a good start if they can get the win against Andorra,” Giggs told the BBC recently while stressing the need for a good start. “You cannot take anything for granted in football, but if you want to qualify you have to beat the likes of Andorra. You have top players who are at top clubs and can frighten any team. It is about gathering momentum and going from there.”

For Real Madrid and Arsenal, it is perhaps an interesting turn of events. Manchester United were never too disappointed when Giggs was unable to join up with the Welsh squad, as it ensured the left-sided midfielder was able to stay a little fresher for them as year after year they launched trophy assaults on three or four fronts.

At 23 and 25 respectively, it is perhaps too soon for Ramsey and Bale to be thinking about ways of preserving their longevity like that, and surely their clubs would not dream of trying to influence them in any way. But the new circumstances leave open the possibility of a creating a problem almost directly opposite to the one Giggs wrestled with: With qualification suddenly a viable prospect, might both players feel obliged to play through injury in order to help achieve it?

While Wales’ squad is better than it has been in many years, they will remain hugely reliant on the talents of their two stars to make the difference. Without them, even factoring in all the other established names, Coleman's side are an ordinary one. The likes of Andorra and Cyprus might be put to the sword without issue, but what happens if Bale and Ramsey are struggling with knocks when Wales host Israel next September, desperately needing at least a point to stay on track for qualification?

Then it becomes about individual careers as much as a national desire to end a tournament drought. Qualification would be amazing, but an ill-timed or serious injury could irrevocably change the course of both players' club careers. Suddenly the club-versus-country pressures will take on a whole new aspect.

Stu Forster/Getty Images

Ryan Giggs never got to represent Wales in a major tournament—an experience he was so desperate to taste that he eventually agreed to represent Great Britain in their ill-fated Olympics campaign in 2012.

Through fate and circumstance Ramsey, who also played in those Games, and Bale (who was a late, Giggs-esque withdrawal due to injury) have a glorious chance to lead their country to a major tournament, although it might bring with it a whole new set of difficult challenges. Only time will tell.