The Warm-Up: Bale breaks record, England prepare for Dutch test
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Updated 23/03/2018 at 11:09 GMT
Gareth Bale is the greatest goalscorer in Welsh history, while England have a date with the Dutch.
Gareth Bale of Wales reacts during their China Cup International Football Championship Semi-final match against China
Image credit: Getty Images
FRIDAY'S BIG HEADLINES
Record-breaking Bale
Congratulations are due to Gareth Bale, who yesterday broke Ian Rush's record for international goals for Wales as a hat-trick took him to 29 strikes for his country. Where better to do it than at the Guangxi Sports Centre in Nanning, in a 6-0 rout of a terrible China side? The Warm-Up was alarmed to discover that China are managed by Marcello Lippi, who must have been crying inside as the goals flew into his net and he recalled fond years spent with Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon.
Still, as Robbie Keane would tell you, they all count. And we shouldn't turn our noses up at what is an incredible feat. Bale is not even a striker yet he has supplanted one of the great British centre-forwards of all time in the Welsh goalscoring stakes. If he hadn't been taken off in the second half he might have broken into the 30s.
Bale said that beating Rush's mark was possibly the highlight of his career:
It is right up there, maybe as the best. I suppose when I was a little boy I never dreamed of being a record-breaker for Wales. It is a massive honour. I was not thinking about it, but now it has come it's an incredible honour and one of the best things I've achieved in my career. On a personal note it's great to break the record, but I could not have done it without my team-mates.
And, in Ryan Giggs' first game as manager, he proved to his new boss that maybe there is some value in actually turning up for meaningless friendlies played halfway around the world after all...
Southgate tackles racism
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Head coach / Manager, Gareth Southgate speaks to the media at the England Press Conference Access
Image credit: Getty Images
Invited to address concerns over widespread racism in Russia, where he will be taking his troops for the World Cup, Gareth Southgate took an admirable stance in his press conference yesterday.
The England boss talked about a presentation from Kick It Out chief Troy Townsend where he showed some of the racist abuse directed at England Under-16s on Instagram - and reminded everyone in attendance that England has some work to do on that front as well.
I don’t think we should just talk about racism in Russia. We’ve got to get our own house in order. There are things going on in our own country that aren’t correct. We keep pointing the finger at Russia, where we are going to be guests in the next couple of months, but we haven’t resolved the issue in our own country. Until we do, I think we should stop firing off those things elsewhere.
Wilshere woe
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Jack Wilshere speaks during an England press conference session
Image credit: Getty Images
It's been a long road back to full fitness, Arsenal prominence and the England national team for Jack Wilshere, but after all that effort he misses Friday's game against Netherlands with a knee injury.
Wilshere didn't travel to Amsterdam with the rest of the England team and is having treatment with Arsenal, but he could be fit for Tuesday's game against Italy.
IN OTHER NEWS
We know politicians are known for making wildly optimistic promises which they never manage to deliver on, but even in the realms of Westminster nonsense, the expectation that Wilsh, Razza, Ox and Co should win the World Cup to provide a central plank of the Government's response to the Skripal poisoning is quite something.
RETRO CORNER
Netherlands v England. Ronald Koeman in the opposite dugout. What else could we possibly look back on but one of the most infamous moments in the history of the English national side. At least we are going to the World Cup this time...
The incident provoked one of the most memorable scenes in An Impossible Job, the documentary about the late Graham Taylor's ill-fated reign as England boss. "The referee's just got me the sack." And he had.
HAT TIP
A completely gratuitous piece of in-house back-slapping here, but Eurosport have launched a pretty nifty little tool which allows you to select your 23-man squad for the World Cup, and share with your friends on Twitter and Facebook (if you haven't already deleted it). Lewis Cook or Jake Livermore? Alfie Mawson or James Tarkowski or Ben Mee?? Anyway, you can have some fun with it before tonight's friendly makes the picture a little clearer for Gareth Southgate.
COMING UP
It's a veritable feast of international football, with England's trip to sleepy Dutch backwater Amsterdam taking centre stage at 7:45pm on ITV. If you are looking to catch a glimpse of teams who might actually win the World Cup, the obvious highlight is the clash between the past two winners, Germany and Spain, which is on BT Sport at the same time. Sky Sports have Scotland v Costa Rica, just for jokes.
Easing you into next week with the subtlety of an Amsterdam brownie, Adam Hurrey is back on Monday.
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