JAKARTA - The interim coach of the Wales national team, Rob Page, admitted that he felt like he had won even though they lost 0-1 against Italy in the final match of Group A Euro 2020 at the Olimpico, Rome, Sunday local time (Monday, western Indonesia time).
This cannot be separated from the fact that the result was enough to deliver Wales to finish as runners-up in Group A and qualify for the round of 16, following the results of another match in Baku, where Switzerland "only" won 3-1 over Turkey.
What's more, Wales was able to prevent a more crushing defeat despite having to finish the match with 10 men following Ethan Ampadu's red card in the 55th minute.
"It was like winning because we finished second," Page said after the match.
A picture can say a thousand words.#WAL | #EURO2020 | #TogetherStronger pic.twitter.com/0iNH3fVVoV
— Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) June 20, 2021
"We know it's going to be a tough game and we're going to be playing in our own half.
"Even with 11 players it's difficult and doing it with only 10 makes it a higher hill to climb.
"Full credit to the players, I couldn't praise them more than this, and I'm very proud of them."
Wales conceded a goal scored by Matteo Pessina who cheated Marco Verratti's free kick in the 39th minute.
SEE ALSO:
In an attempt to recover, Page's side then had to lose Ampadu who became only the second player in the tournament to receive a red card after Polish midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak, both from the same refereeing bag as Ovidiu Hategan.
"They got the job done. Of course, we want to win all the games and I have to make tough decisions before the game," said Page.
🇮🇹 1-0 🏴
📸 #WAL | #EURO2020 | #TogetherStronger pic.twitter.com/htRxbgoaNU
— Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) June 20, 2021
"Our players deserve whatever credit is to come."
Wales has qualified for the last 16 and will face the runners-up in Group B, where all four teams in the group, Belgium, Russia, Finland, and Denmark, can still play.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
