IAN HERBERT: Gareth Bale would have pictured himself getting a hero’s farewell in Qatar

The outcome was brutal and dis-spiriting but above all there was an extraordinary sadness about the way it all ended for arguably the greatest footballer the Welsh nation has known. The one without whom they would have never touched the heights these past eight years.

Gareth Bale would have pictured in his mind’s eye a hero’s farewell here. A red wall standing as one to cheer him off, at the World Cup his country had awaited so long. 

But this was something very different. When the second half began, Bale simply walked to the dug-out and sat there, those distinctive big eyes of his blinking in the reality that his tournament – and probably his time in the red jersey he cherishes most – was over.

Gareth Bale would've pictured himself getting a hero's farewell at the World Cup in Qatar

Gareth Bale would’ve pictured himself getting a hero’s farewell at the World Cup in Qatar

Instead, he bowed out of the international stage from the bench after getting an injury

Instead, he bowed out of the international stage from the bench after getting an injury

They talked about an injury. With five minutes of the first half to run, he had stretched his leg out and seemed to feel under his thigh, though that seemed a convenient way to dress up the crushing reality that he just could not shape this game or even contribute to it. Sport and the tide of time has a habit of lacking any sentiment for those whose gifts have served it best.

The song the Welsh choir sing – ‘Yma o Hyd’ – translates as ‘Still Here’ but it was hard to detect anything other than strain on Bale’s face from the moment he stepped into the stadium. It was in his eyes as he stared out from the tunnel. 

It was in his comportment as he mopped his brow with his sleeve, just before the teams stood to stand the anthem. He’d walked out with a bottle in his hand. He knew how much the heat was on Wales.

He might have contributed more had Wales managed to maintain possession of the ball in that first half, though they surrendered it so often that were in constant retreat. Bale’s first meaningful contribution, seven minutes in, was an arced a cross field ball for Daniel James which flew straight into touch. Another ball bobbled between his legs.

The Welshman had just seven touches during their first-half encounter against England

The Welshman had just seven touches during their first-half encounter against England

The LAFC forward (R) scored one goal for his national side - a penalty against the USA - in Qatar

The LAFC forward (R) scored one goal for his national side – a penalty against the USA – in Qatar

Take your pick of the numbers which were circulating on FIFA’s information systems at half time. Bale’s seven touches in the first 45 minutes was the most deadening from the perspective of a Wales side who held 21 per cent per possession and completed 129 passes to England’s 352. It was rather stating the obvious to say that Bale’s pass completion was 0 per cent.

He and those players all around him were being asked to salvage some pride with a formation barely known to them: four at the back, as Rob Page dispensed with the three-man defence which has been his article of faith.

Perhaps those who have followed the team out here knew what was coming because even the Red Wall was sparser than it had been when the team played Iran. 

The expectation had been that Wales would go at England with the full weight of patriotic indignation but they struggled to come to terms with a system in which Aaron Ramsey operated as a 10, behind Kieffer Moore.

Bale battles away with England full-back Kyle Walker (R) during the first-half of the game

Bale battles away with England full-back Kyle Walker (R) during the first-half of the game

Page’s preliminary talk of Joe Allen, finally starting a game to anchor midfield, had suggested superhuman qualities, though the reality was more prosaic.

Allen and the midfield were caught up in a carousel of quick passing from England which was a desperate to behold at times. Bale, the bystander, marshalled Neco Williams to take up a right back’s position but there was little more to him than that.

For as long as there was deadlock, there was hope and the prospect of something falling for a player capable of doing damage with it. Allen did take a ball down past John Stones and despatched a half volley wide just before half time, though this was delaying the inevitable. 

A terrible Welsh vulnerability was written across this game from the minute Harry Kane put Marcus Rashford through and Danny Ward repelled the attack, early on.

The goals came in 18 minutes and exposed other players who have known far better times than this. Ward, a hero of last summer’s Euros for Wales, was at fault for the first Ben Davies was robbed by Rashford just outside the Welsh area to bring about the second. Rashford cut inside Connor Roberts for the third.

Marcus Rashford scored a brace to ensure England qualified top of their group in Qatar

Marcus Rashford scored a brace to ensure England qualified top of their group in Qatar

Aaron Ramsey stayed the course, though struggled too and was booked for a poor tackle on Henderson, just beyond the hour mark. Allen looked shot as limped away, crimson with effort, after 80 minutes.

The Wales fans had started the night singing ‘Please don’t take me home’ – an anthem of their glorious run to the 2016 Euros semi-final – but even the most fervent can’t have wanted much more than this. ‘Home in the morning,’ the gleeful English re-joined. There really was no answer to that.

Bale surveyed all this implacably, doing his best to mask the private agony he will have felt at the English nation, of all opponents, being the ones to drive home the final nails.

There’s been a sense all along that he’s seen the reality. His body language at the press conferences. Repeatedly looking at his watch in the pre-match event yesterday, as if to say: ‘I don’t want to be here. His reply when asked if the possibility it was his last Wales game offered greater motivation? ‘Nope.’

The two captains - Bale and Harry Kane (R) - in discussion at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium

The two captains – Bale and Harry Kane (R) – in discussion at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium

Thoughts will now turn to a Wales era without him and considering his alchemic qualities that is tough form of contempltion.

Page’s contract runs to the end of the Euro 2024 campaign but in so many ways the task ahead is unenviable. The chances of Bale and Ramsey being persuaded to give it one last in a seemingly benign Euro 2024 qualifying group – Wales face Latvia, Armenia and Turkey as well as Croatia and two to qualify – seem even slimmer today. 

The greatest of the new talents, Cardiff’s 20-year-old Ruben Colwill was given the last nine minutes but he is still a prospect; nothing more.

When Bale stepped out onto the field at the end of it all, a camera operator stepped into his space and Bale shoved him away with the palm of his hand. He was the last of the squad to trudge away to the Red Wall. They chanted ‘Wales.’ They sang ‘Land of My Fathers’. And then another song struck up. ‘He’s Gareth Bale.’

He held his hands aloft and stared into space, contemplating a campaign which Wales will wish to forget. The end had been coming. He knew that. But it wasn’t supposed to be like this.

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