Filed under: Euro 2012, Football, England Football
Wales have suffered a major blow in their bid to derail England's march to the Euro 2012 finals after it emerged star winger Gareth Bale will miss Saturday's Millennium Stadium qualifier.Welsh FA chiefs are yet to confirm his absence, but it appears a hamstring injury has ended any hopes of Bale being involved in the Group G showdown.
The Tottenham winger pulled up in training and is now thought to be returning to the London club for further assessment.
The news is a major blow for Wales manager Gary Speed ahead of his first competitive international in charge.
But it will also hand Harry Redknapp's side a major headache with the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid less than a fortnight away..
Bale, 21, has only recently returned to action after a six-week lay-off with a back injury, making two substitute appearances and one start for Spurs.
And it's now believed that his fresh injury could be linked with that.
Wales assistant manager Raymond Verheijen wrote on his Twitter account: "Funny to read about Gareth Bale injuring his hamstring in training yesterday.....as he did not train at all yesterday."
Prior to sustaining his injury, Bale had enjoyed an outstanding season and his fitness is crucial to his side's hopes of progressing further in Europe.
Now there will be concerns his rise to stardom this season has come at a price with the season taking its toll on his young body.
Ironically, Bale had earlier claimed he was over any injury problems that has rocked him since a young age and after making his big-money move to White Hart Lane as a teenager.
He said: "I had problems with my back and my flexors when I was at Southampton.
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"Then, soon after I joined Spurs, I had a horrible fracture in my right foot against Birmingham and it nearly finished me again.
"They inserted screws in the operation that stayed in for three months and it was eight months before I recovered.
"But the club backed me, told me to continue to work, that it wasn't my fault."
England will be thankful that Bale, identified as one of three dangermen along with Aaron Ramsey and Craig Bellamy for the Dragons, will be sidelined.
Fabio Capello's plans were centered around stopping the threat of Bale.
But those plans, along with Speed's, will be put on the backburner.
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