Wales Bale Out for Safety

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Wales manager Chris Coleman says he was not prepared to risk Gareth Bale in their 2-1 defeat away by Macedonia.

World-record signing Bale was named on the bench for the World Cup qualifying loss in Skopje, which finally ended Wales' slim hopes of making the finals.

But despite that, Coleman said Bale's lack of match fitness after injury meant he was never going to play.

"We cannot risk Gareth Bale or any of our players, we've got to send them back to their clubs," Coleman said.

"He's only probably trained three or four times in the last two months.

"He's such an athlete and he wanted to come. He came the evening of his unveiling in Madrid, he's trained the next day, he's trained three days - he's not ready.

"We can't take that risk. If he comes on and, God forbid, anything happens, then how is that building a relationship with Real Madrid?

"We know we need to win the game but we're also looking at the bigger picture.

"We can't be sending back players injured because we're taking chances - it's not fair on them."

Wales now need to beat Serbia in Cardiff on Tuesday to maintain any hope of claiming third place in Group A, which would boost their seeding when the draw for Euro 2016 qualification is made.

Coleman said there was an outside chance Bale could come off the bench against Serbia.

"He's never going to be ready to start, it's as simple as that," Coleman said. "The fact he's turned up and is trying to be fit for us is such a huge positive and if he's ready then he may play a part.

"We'll see how he reacts between now and Tuesday."

Coleman, who suffered the embarrassment of arriving late in Skopje on Thursday after missing the team flight from Cardiff because of a lost passport, said he regretted a missed opportunity to beat Macedonia.

Ivan Trickovski had given Macedonia the lead after a deflected free-kick fell kindly, but Wales fought back through an Aaron Ramsey penalty he won himself.

However, sloppy play on the edge of Wales' own area let Aleksandar Trajkovski snatch a late winner for the home side.

"I'm gobsmacked really. You know anything can happen and you get nervous but I was very confident," said the Wales boss.

"Even when we went 1-0 down there was a feeling about us and an atmosphere about us that was positive and I felt that we were going to win the game.

"[Craig] Bellamy hits a post, Ramsey sticks a penalty in and we were always the one in the ascendency. Half-time came too quickly for us.

"What's missing at the minute is really sticking the knife into teams when we're on top and finishing them off."

Related articles

• Macedonia 2-1 Wales: Gareth Bale is an £85m unused sub as late strike denies Dragons
• Not right to risk Bale, says Coleman
• Macedonia 2 - 1 Wales: Gareth Bale stays on bench as Chris Coleman's side slump to defeat
• Chris Coleman: 'I didn't consider playing Gareth Bale'
• Bale sees Wales slip to defeat
• Macedonia 2 Wales 1 : Welsh qualification hopes shatter with a costly defeat

Toshack Seeks Home Win

Macedonia face Andorra tomorrow in a game that John Toshack fully expects to record his first victory as Macedonian manager.

John Toshack has warned his club not to underestimate Andorra as anything less than a win would be unacceptable. The Macedonian fans will never forget the Andorra game on 13 October 2004, during the 2006 World Cup qualifications, when Andorra recorded their first ever competitive victory by beating Macedonia 1:0. That came four days after the Macedonian team drew 2:2 against the Netherlands. Macedonia did not show up for the Andorra game and suffered an embarrassing defeat against one of the weakest sides in Europe. 

Toshack will be hoping that does not happen again tomorrow as Macedonia will be without three regular starters. During today's press conference, John Toshack said the following, "We understand what kind of match awaits us. It will be hard, not because Andorra has quality, but because they will come to defend in Skopje. I watched a replay of the Slovakia vs. Andorra game earlier in the competition and Slovakia barely won 1:0. Therefore, there can't be relaxation by the players. They will have to play to their abilities to break down the defensive minded Andorra side in order to record the expected victory.

Due to picking up yellow cards in the Russia game, Goran Pandev, Nikolce Noveski, and Muhamed Demiri were suspended for the Andorra game and have already returned to their club teams. Meanwhile, Darko Tasevski went back to Sofia so he is also not available for the Andorra game. With the recent addition of Stefan Ristovski, the Macedonian squad consists of 20 players for the Andorra game. 

Toshack is likely to field an offensive minded formation with many young players. The absence of Pandev might not be a bad thing. Lately, the young players have seemed intimidated by Pandev and always look to pass him the ball. Without him, the young players will be able to freely express themselves on the field and not worry about pleasing Pandev. Toshack will decide between Daniel Mojsov and Igor Mitreski as to who will partner Sikov in the center of our defense due to Noveski facing a yellow cards suspension. The exclusion of Demiri might not be a big loss since there is no need to play with two defensive midfielders against Andorra. Toshack will likely field an extra attacker with Velice Sumulikoski as the only defensive midfielder.

Speaking about the Andorra game, Goran Popov noted, "If we don't beat Andorra, that would be catastrophic for us as players, for Macedonia, and for Macedonian football as a whole. I don't even want to think about the same atmosphere returning, just like several years ago, when we lost to this opponent. We will be fully concentrated, knowing that we will have to break down a very defensive minded team. Scoring a goal as soon as possible will be very important."

Macedonia and Andorra have already met one time during the EURO 2012 qualifications when Macedonia notched a 2:0 road victory against Andorra on 8 October 2010. However, Macedonia did not play well in that match and scored both goals from set pieces using their size advantage. Ilco Naumoski, who was not called up for this match, and Vance Sikov scored the two goals for Macedonia, both coming on headers following corner kicks.

The match will be played at the Fillip II Arena in Skopje beginning at 20:00 CET with the referee being Mark Steven Whitby from Wales, the home country of the Macedonian manager John Toshack.