EURO: Wales take Group B top spot

With that win, Wales finished at the top of Group ‘B’ after England and Slovakia fought to a barren draw.

This is just the second time that Wales have qualified for the knock-out stages of a major tournament and they will have to thank Gareth Bale for another history making moment.

Image Source: The Daily Mail

The Real Madrid man scored one of the three goals on Monday night and remains the tournament’s leading goal scorer with three goals so far.

Wales opened the scoring in the 11th minute after Aaron Ramsey put them ahead. Neil Taylor added a second just nine minutes later in a first half that was dominated by the winners.

Wales continued their dominance in the second half and the evidence was a 67th-minute goal by Gareth Bale.

Coming into this match, Wales needed just a draw to make it to the last 16 but they were not taking any chances and looked determined to pick all maximum points on offer.

The Russians stood no chance against a determined Wales side who had more than 18 shots on target just in the first half. Initially, there had been doubts over the omission of Hal Robson-Kanu whose place was taken by Sam Vokes. The latter, however, proved himself with a scintillating performance through-out the match.

Image Source: The Daily Mail

Vokes allowed Gareth Bale to play a free role in the match and was a menace to the Russian backline.

England failed to bring down a determined Slovakia side with the match ending in a barren draw but the English still made it to the knock-out stages as Group ‘B’ runners-up.

England manager Roy Hodgson looked to have gambled with his starting line-up as he made major changes leaving out key players like Wayne Rooney in an experiment that looked to have ended badly.

Image Source: The Guardian

Even without their key players, the English had more chances at goal and Slovakia goalkeeper Matus Kozacik was kept busy for a better part of the match. He did well to deny Jamie Vardy and Nathaniel Clyne who came close in the first and second half of the match respectively.

Even when Rooney was brought in for Jack Wilshere, Slovakia remained unrelenting at the back and did well to deny England all three points.