What Rob Page said about Wales UEFA Nations League draw with Turkey, Montenegro, and Iceland
Wales head coach Rob Page ahead of kick off. Wales v Armenia in a UEFA EURO 2024 Qualifier at Cardiff City Stadium on the 16th June 2023. Credit: Lewis Mitchell
Wales manager Rob Page has reacted to their Nations League group that was drawn in Paris Thursday afternoon.
The draw saw Wales placed in group B4 where they will face Iceland, Montenegro and Turkey in a battle to gain promotion back to the top tier of the Nations League, after relegation last time out from division A.
It will be the first time Wales have played Iceland since a 3-1 home win in a friendly fixture in March of 2013, with James Collins, Sam Vokes, and Gareth Bale getting the goals.
It has been an even longer wait to face Montenegro, with Wales last facing The Brave Falcons in a 2-1 home win in September 2011, with Steve Morison and Aaron Ramsey on the scoresheet in what was Gary Speed’s sixth game in charge of his nation.
They are however all to familiar with their final opponents Turkey, having beaten them 2-0 in the Euro 2020 group stages and faced them in the recent European Championship qualifiers with Turkey winning 2-0 in Samsun before a 1-1 draw in Cardiff to end the campaign.
The matches are set to take place between September and November of this year, with the fixture schedule due to be announced by UEFA soon.
Rob Page’s reaction to UEFA Nations League draw
Speaking on the draw Rob Page said: “I think we’ve got to be pleased with it. Barring Turkey at the end, if we could have picked any of the three teams it was going our way until Turkey came out at the end.”
“Even so we’ve recently played against them twice, barring the sending-off in Turkey we held our own and think it could have been a decent result. Overall we’ve got to be pleased with that draw.”
The Nations League campaign will be the first time Wales have faced either Iceland or Montenegro in over a decade, and despite being happy with the draw, Page stated that he expected a test against both oppositions.
He said: “A tough test of course, there’s no easy games is there. Well have to do our research and have a look, and test the analysts. Whatever team we face we know were in for a tough game.”
Wales were relegated in the last Nations League campaign, with Page sharing to Sgorio that he felt the side’s he fielded were weaker than usual due to them resting players for more crucial fixtures such as the World Cup play-off final against Ukraine.
The Wales boss said he was disappointed to be relegated last time out, but feels they will be able to field a full-strength side for every fixture this time out in an attempt to regain division A status.
Page added: “We can now go into the tournament and not have to worry about protecting anybody. They are games now that we are going out to win.”
How do you feel about the draw Wales fans? Should Rob Page’s side be aiming for promotion? Let us know in the comment section below.
