Wales will give Gareth Bale a warm send-off before hosting Latvia on Tuesday with the manager, Rob Page, hailing the “fresh energy” that has swept into his team thanks to changes to the squad and staff after the World Cup.
Bale will be in attendance for the Euro 2024 qualifier at the Cardiff City Stadium, the first game to take place there since the 33-year-old announced his retirement. Bale, who is Wales’s all-time leading male goalscorer and widely considered to be his country’s greatest player, has since played golf at Pebble Beach on the PGA Tour.
The former captain will be the subject of a pre-match presentation and will address what is expected to be a sold-out crowd. Bale’s final appearance came as Wales exited the World Cup against England in Qatar in November.
Page stressed the importance of securing victory against Latvia after salvaging a point in Croatia in their opening qualifying game last Saturday. “It’s an eight‑game season so you try to forecast as many points,” he said. “Some go your way, some don’t.
“That was a bonus point for us the other night. The plan going into it [these games] was: ‘If we can get four points, great; six, we’ve won the lottery, brilliant.’ We will take four points going into the June camp.”
Bale, Joe Allen, Jonny Williams and Chris Gunter, who joined the Wales staff on a part-time basis this month, all retired from playing for their country after the World Cup. Eric Ramsay, first-team coach under Erik ten Hag at Manchester United and Nick Davies, a fitness coach at West Ham, have been added to Page’s backroom team after the departures of Kit Symons and Tony Strudwick.
“It is a combination of fresh energy from the players and the coaches as well,” Page said.
Aaron Ramsey, who replaced Bale as captain, believes the result in Split was a significant marker. “For us to put what happened in the World Cup behind us now and look forward again, it was important to get that result,” said the 32-year-old midfielder, who will lead Wales out at home town club Cardiff alongside his eldest son, Sonny. “He was captain for his local team on Saturday as well, so that made it a bit more special,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey said he hopes another of his former clubs, Arsenal, go on to clinch the Premier League title. Ramsey played alongside the Mikel Arteta for five years, for two of which Arteta was captain. “You could see back then he was always going to be a manager one day, the way he thought and saw the game and how intense he was,” Ramsey said. “It is absolutely unbelievable what he has done there, what they’re doing at the moment and hopefully they can go all the way.
“It is still a massive part of me. I spent 10, 11 years there and for them to go on and win the league, I’m as much a fan as anybody. It would be absolutely great. I still know so many players and members of staff there. The fans deserve it.”
