Euro 2016: Wales shock Belgium 3-1

Wales continued to shock all of Europe when they knocked out the top-ranked Belgium team in Lille on Friday.

Wales won 3-1 with goals from captain Ashley William; clubless Hal Robson-Kanu and substitute Sam Vokes as Belgium pushed for the equalizer.

The Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille was awash with red with the Belgians more in attendance and Radja Naingollan had given Belgium a deserved lead after the Red Devils started the game on fire.

They should have gone ahead in the seventh minute but the Welsh defenders made three blocks on the line in the space of a few seconds and it seemed to be a matter of time before Wales’ fairy tale was punctured.

But after conceding the goal, they settled remarkably and started pushing the Belgians back and deservedly got their equalizer from a corner kick as Williams was left virtually unmarked on 31 minutes.

Belgium were sloppy in possession but Eden Hazard and Kevin de Bruyne were effectively shackled by the 3-5-2 formation deployed by Wales – just like Italy did to them in their first match in France.

In the second half, Robson-Kanu turned the match on its head when he stepped away from three defenders and calmly passed the ball past Thibaut Courtois.

Marc Wilmots threw on Marouane Fellaini, Michy Batshuayi, and Dries Mertens but the Welsh defence stood up to the onslaught.

Sam Vokes came on for Robson-Kanu and added the gloss on the finest Welsh football performance to take the team coached by Chris Coleman to the semi-final, their first ever trip to such a stage in any football tournament.

In perspective, the Wales squad was valued at $170million before the tournament compared to Belgium’s superstars worth $460million but the tactical acumen of Wales manager, Coleman was far too much for the naivety of Belgium manager, Marc Wilmots.

Wales are into a dream semi-final where they will face Portugal without Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies but where Real Madrid teammates – Cristiano Ronaldo against Gareth Bale will come up against each other.