Welsh Wonderment

The story of Euro 2016 is Wales, and the draw has been kind enough to give them genuine hope of reaching an historic final in Paris on Sunday.

The bookies make Coleman’s boys 16/5 to win in 90 minutes but I like the look of Wales and over 2.5 goals at a best price of 7/1 with StanJames.

This may sound reckless but let’s consider that Portugal are yet to win a single match over 90 minutes during this tournament. Furthermore, they have the emotional baggage of having reached a major semi-final for the seventh time, knowing they have lost five of the previous six matches at this point.

We know only too well from England what a difference these psychological barriers can make.

Wales demonstrated against Belgium that they are both brave enough to come from behind against a big team but also to stay on the front foot when in front. This approach will lead to goals in the game and I expect we’ll see something closer to Hungary-Portugal than Croatia-Portugal in terms of action.

The Red Dragon will miss Aaron Ramsey but Bale is poised to carry his team to the final while Ronaldo bickers and alienates his team-mates.