{"id":2596,"date":"2014-03-04T08:35:26","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T08:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/?p=2596"},"modified":"2014-03-04T08:35:26","modified_gmt":"2014-03-04T08:35:26","slug":"wales-v-iceland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2014\/03\/04\/wales-v-iceland\/","title":{"rendered":"Wales take on Iceland in pre &#8211; Euro friendly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_2603\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2603\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/WalesIceland.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-2603  \" alt=\"Wales take on Iceland in a not-so-friendly encounter\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/WalesIceland-300x185.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"385\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2603\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2603  \" alt=\"Wales take on Iceland in a not-so-friendly encounter\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/WalesIceland-300x185.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"385\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> Wales take on Iceland in a not-so-friendly encounter<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nWales go into tomorrow night\u2019s friendly against Iceland looking for a win to boost their confidence for the forthcoming European Championship qualifying campaign.<br \/>\nArsenal star Aaron Ramsey will not play having been omitted from the squad because of injury.<br \/>\nThe midfielder has been on the sidelines since Boxing Day with a thigh problem and is not expected to return until later this month.<br \/>\nSunderland\u2019s David Vaughan, currently on loan at Championship side Nottingham Forest, is also out injured.<br \/>\nBut Wales\u2019s hopes have been boosted by the selection of the world\u2019s most expensive footballer, Gareth Bale, who is named in manager Chris Coleman\u2019s 23-man squad.<br \/>\nThe Cardiff-born forward has scored 14 goals in 24 matches for Spanish giants Real Madrid so far this season.<br \/>\nHowever, it remains to be seen if Coleman will risk including the star in his starting line-up, as the opposition will undoubtedly target him as Wales\u2019s main threat.<br \/>\nThe former Tottenham man has only featured in two of Wales\u2019s last six internationals.<br \/>\nIt is still uncertain whether captain Ashley Williams will have recovered from illness in time to start tomorrow (Wednesday) night after he was sick on the pitch during Swansea\u2019s 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace on Sunday.<br \/>\nPalace midfielder Joe Ledley is the most capped player in the squad and would be the most obvious replacement as captain if Williams misses out.<br \/>\nManchester City youngster Emyr Huws, currently on loan at Birmingham City, has been included in the squad and could earn his first cap, having been an unused substitute in Wales\u2019s last match, a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Finland last November.<br \/>\nHuws, whose sole appearance for Manchester City was as a substitute against Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup in January, has represented Wales at under-17, under-19 and under-21 level.<br \/>\nRamsey\u2019s absence could see Huws take his place in the starting line-up to secure his first cap for the senior team tomorrow night.<br \/>\nThe 20-year-old has impressed during his loan spell at Birmingham City and joins West Ham\u2019s James Collins in the squad, having appeared to patch up his differences with Coleman.<br \/>\nStriker Sam Vokes, 24, will hope to start having enjoyed an impressive season so far, scoring 18 goals to help Burnley climb to second in the Championship.<br \/>\nThe Bournemouth academy product has fond memories of playing against Iceland, having made his debut the last time these two teams faced each other in Wales\u2019s 1-0 win in Reykjavik in 2008.<br \/>\nHis inclusion in the starting line-up to face Iceland seems to be a certainty after Charlton striker Simon Church sat out of training yesterday (Monday) because of injury.<br \/>\nWales have a good record against tomorrow (Wednesday) night\u2019s opposition, having won four and lost just one of their six meetings, but Iceland currently sit three places above Wales in the FIFA world rankings.<br \/>\nIceland finished second in their World Cup qualifying group, but lost in the play-offs to Croatia \u2013 who were runners-up in Wales\u2019s group.<br \/>\nWales finished a disappointing fifth in their group but they are unbeaten in their last three matches having won at home against Macedonia, and drawn away at Belgium and at home against Finland.<br \/>\nThe game against Iceland is the start of Wales\u2019s build-up for the team\u2019s Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, and will be their only match until going away to the Netherlands for a friendly on June 4.<br \/>\nWales found out their opponents in their quest to reach Euro 2016 last Sunday, with Belgium and Bosnia the standout names.<br \/>\nThey will also face Israel, Cyprus and Andorra in Group B, and will begin their campaign at home to the latter on September 9.<br \/>\nThe Euro 2016 finals being made up of 24 nations, an increase from the current format\u2019s 16 nations, has boosted the hopes of the Welsh to reach their first major tournament since the World Cup in 1958.<br \/>\nWales v Iceland kicks off at 7.45pm tomorrow (Wednesday) night at the Cardiff City Stadium.<br \/>\nWales\u2019s 23-man squad to face Iceland tomorrow (Wednesday):<br \/>\nWayne Hennessey (Crystal Palace), Glyn \u2018Boaz\u2019 Myhill (West Bromwich Albion), Owain Fon Williams (Tranmere Rovers); James Collins (West Ham United), Ben Davies (Swansea City), Daniel Gabbidon (Crystal Palace), Chris Gunter (Reading), Adam Matthews (Celtic), Ashley Jazz Richards (Swansea City), Sam Ricketts (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Neil Taylor (Swansea City), Ashley Williams (Swansea City); Joe Allen (Liverpool), Jack Collison (West Ham United), Emyr Huws (Manchester City \u2013 on loan at Birmingham City), Andy King (Leicester City), Joe Ledley (Crystal Palace), Jonathan Williams (Crystal Palace \u2013 on loan at Ipswich Town); Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Simon Church (Charlton Athletic), Jermaine Easter (Millwall), Hal Robson-Kanu (Reading), Sam Vokes (Burnley).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Wales go into tomorrow night\u2019s friendly against Iceland looking for a win to boost their confidence for the forthcoming European Championship qualifying campaign. Arsenal star Aaron Ramsey will not play having been omitted from the squad because of injury. The midfielder has been on the sidelines since Boxing Day with a thigh problem and is not expected to return until later this month. Sunderland\u2019s David Vaughan, currently on loan at Championship side Nottingham Forest, is also out injured. But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":2603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,4],"tags":[95,436,2013],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-sport","tag-football","tag-gareth-bale","tag-wales-v-iceland"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Wales take on Iceland in pre - Euro friendly - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2014\/03\/04\/wales-v-iceland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wales take on Iceland in pre - Euro friendly - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Wales go into tomorrow night\u2019s friendly against Iceland looking for a win to boost their confidence for the forthcoming European Championship qualifying campaign. Arsenal star Aaron Ramsey will not play having been omitted from the squad because of injury. The midfielder has been on the sidelines since Boxing Day with a thigh problem and is not expected to return until later this month. Sunderland\u2019s David Vaughan, currently on loan at Championship side Nottingham Forest, is also out injured. 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