Wales 4 Moldova 0: Chris Coleman’s men show ruthless streak as they bury sorry Moldova in Cardiff thanks to goals from Gareth Bale, Sam Vokes and Joe Allen
Visitors set up to frustrate Wales and held firm for half an hour but Bale produced moment of magic
CHRIS COLEMAN's Wales picked up where they left off at Euro 2016 as they thrashed sorry Moldova in Cardiff.
The visitors set up to frustrate Wales and held firm for half an hour, but were undone by a Sam Vokes header and a quickfire second from Joe Allen.
It was all one-way traffic after the break and Gareth Bale raced clear to make it three with a cute chip over the onrushing keeper.
Wales pushed for more but eased off as they cruised to an easy three points, with Bale adding a late penalty seal the rout.
Facts, stats, goals & lols
- CHRIS COLEMAN named nine of the starters from the Euro semi-final defeat to Portugal in Lyon 61 days ago. Ben Davies, suspended that night, and Sam Vokes came in for James Collins and Hal Robson-Kanu.
- THERE were almost double the number of Wales fans (31,731) here for their opening World Cup qualifier compared to Cardiff’s Championship clash with Reading (15,013) the previous weekend. Just shows you what a bit of success can do.
MOLDOVA are the worst ranked team in Group D - 165th in the Fifa world rankings. That’s one place below the mighty Papua New Guinea.
TWENTY-FIVE mad Moldovans made the 1,500-mile trip to the Welsh capital. They were allocated three rows in the main stand and looked just happy to be here, celebrating the award of free-kicks.
4Bale was gifted his goal after a poor backpassCredit: PA:Press Association HAL ROBSON KANU started on the bench but that did not matter a jot to the Welsh fans. The first song of the night was about the new West Bromwich Albion striker, whose ditty is a remake of Salt 'N' Pepa's 'Push It'.
WALES’ own band ‘The Barry Horns’ are creative in honouring their players in song.
As well as Robson-Kanu, Joe Ledley has one to the tune of Chaka Khan's 'Ain't Nobody, Joe Allen has Eddie Grant's 'Gimme Me Hope Joanna' and now Chris Gunter’s name is sung to the Ghostbusters theme!
- WALES’ Red Wall was back in action on their homecoming following France. Almost every red attended the game wearing the red home replica shirt.
- THE Football Association of Wales have not rinsed their fans following their Euro success with tickets for the five qualifying games as a package starting at £80. Value for money.
SAM VOKES handed Wales the lead - with his eighth international goal. It was simple in its making. Gareth Bale with a superb cross and the Burnley striker nodded home from six yards.
- JOE ALLEN did not know what to do when he added Wales’ second goal. And no wonder the Stoke midfield ace looked shocked. It was his first goal for his country!
- GARETH BALE is now Wales' second all-time scorer outright on 24 goals following his brace against Moldova. The Real Madrid superstar overtook Ivor Allchurch and Trevor Ford with his injury-time penalty. Bale is now only four behind record holder Ian Rush.
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What they said
Gareth Bale: “We enjoyed the past, that’s history now. It’s time to make some more.
“We knew these games are very difficult, we have played teams like this in the past and they are difficult to break down.
“We are learning to cope with that kind of play against us, we are growing as a team again and it was important to get off to a good start.”
Chris Coleman on Bale's pursuit of Ian Rush's Wales goal-scoring record: “He will break it in this campaign. It is a nightmare for opposition managers because he can change your life in an instant with one bit of skill.”