Ian Rush: Why I Want Scotland In The World Cup Play-Off Rather Than Ukraine

Welsh football has a lot going for it at the moment and if we can qualify for the World Cup it will be a momentous occasion for the country.

Gareth Bale had been getting a bit of stick in the Spanish media, so for him to come out and answer his critics like that was very satisfying for us Wales fans, and for himself I’m sure.

If anything, it probably gave him extra motivation to prove what he’s still capable of, not that Bale has much left to prove given the career he’s had.

I don’t get all the negative press Bale gets in Madrid. From where I’m standing, he hasn’t let them down at all – he’s scored in two Champions League finals and helped them to numerous titles.

Okay, he’s had a few injury problems, but even when he has been fit they haven’t been playing him, so what is he supposed to do? For the press to call him a 'parasite' is totally out of order.

But Bale is strong and if it gave him that little extra bit of incentive to perform for Wales against Austria then all the better for us. That was a reminder of the player he can still be.

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That first goal was unstoppable – it was up and over the wall before the keeper even had a chance to move, while his second goal was more of a striker’s finish. Two amazing goals and two very, very important ones for Welsh football.

We’ve got one more game to go – either against Scotland or Ukraine – and I know who I’d rather play. If we play Ukraine, the whole of Europe will be willing them to win, and I can understand that. I wouldn’t want Wales to have to come up against that tidal wave of support, so I’d rather play Scotland.

Anyway, we have unfinished business with Scotland, going way back to 1978 when they beat us in a winner-takes-all qualifier at Anfield, when Joe Jordan handballed the ball but somehow won a penalty for Scotland.

And again in 1985 when I was actually playing, we had to beat Scotland to make the play-offs for Mexico ’86 and we were winning 1-0 with 10 minutes to go before Scotland got another penalty and equalised, sending them through instead.

If we meet Scotland again in 2022, hopefully it’ll be third time lucky for Wales.

Maguire Boos ‘Ridiculous’

England’s win over Ivory Coast was overshadowed by some supporters booing Harry Maguire. In my eyes, they’re not real England fans. I don’t understand what type of supporter shows up to a game with the intention of booing their own player without them having put a foot wrong.

It’s a disgrace, really. Those responsible are the type of people who go to games to cause problems for no reason. Maguire has had a few bad games for Manchester United but he’s never let England down, so for him to get booed for nothing is embarrassing really.

Also the fact it was only a friendly in which England won comfortably and kept a clean sheet only makes it all the more ridiculous. I’m happy Maguire was able to stand up to it, he didn’t seem fazed by it at all and put in a good shift.

I can’t really relate to how it must have felt for him – I never got booed in my career – but it was nice to see his England team-mates stick up for him with support from Harry Kane and Jordan Henderson, who have quite rightly urged fans to get behind the team in what is a World Cup year.

Salah vs Mane Take Two

It’s disappointing that Mohamed Salah – one of the best players in the world – will not be at the World Cup in Qatar. Every top player dreams of playing in the World Cup for their country. It’s not something I ever experienced unfortunately, but Salah still has time to make the next one.

It wasn’t nice to see the Senegal fans point lasers at the Egypt players as they took their penalties in what was another dramatic shoot-out between the two countries. That’s not fair play and Egypt have every right to feel aggrieved.

Salah probably won’t say anything about it publicly, he’s too professional for that, but I’m sure it probably played a part in him missing his penalty.

With Sadio Mane as their talisman, Senegal are a good side, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they get on in Qatar. Will this be the year an African team finally makes it to the last four or further? Who knows, but Senegal are the African champions and have a really good squad so the expectancy is with them.

One thing I’d like to see African teams improve on is their stamina, if any of them are serious about going deep in the tournament. To get to the semi-finals you’ve got to have a good engine and we’ve seen from some good African sides in the past run out of steam a little too early.

Cameroon in 1990, the Senegal team of 2002 and Ghana in 2010 all lit up those respective World Cups, but without being able to go beyond the last eight. Typically, they put a lot of effort into the group stages and end up fatigued, as far as I can tell.

Pacing themselves with the latter rounds in mind is something European and South American teams are particularly good at, but African and Asian teams can learn from that.

Eriksen Still Has A Lot To Offer

One of the most heart-warming stories to emerge from the international break was Christian Eriksen’s return to the Denmark squad, his first appearances since suffering a cardiac arrest at the Euros last summer.

He scored in each of their two games and captained the side to a 3-0 win over Serbia in Copenhagen, the scene of his shocking collapse which gave the football world a real fright.

It’s a great honour in itself to captain your country. I got the chance to do it for Wales and it’s something I had dreamed about since I was a kid. So for Eriksen to captain his country on home soil would have been special anyway, but given the added circumstances it’s a remarkable achievement.

Considering their run to the Euros semi-finals last year and their rampant qualifying campaign, Denmark could be dark horses in the World Cup and Eriksen can be key to that. His return to the side isn’t a token gesture, he’s still got world class ability.

Brentford offered him a route back in to top-tier football and it wouldn’t surprise me if other Premier League clubs are watching him from now until the end of the campaign. Wherever he’s playing next season, he’ll likely be a key part of Denmark’s World Cup campaign.

Are Man Utd Too ‘Commercial’?

Manchester United’s search for a new manager continues and I read Louis van Gaal’s comments urging his compatriot Erik ten Hag not to take the job as they’re a ‘commercial club’ rather than a ‘football club’.

I can see where van Gaal is coming from, but at the end of the day United are an enormous club and if they didn’t maximise their commercial interests they wouldn’t be able to stay on top of their wage structure or make the mega-money signings the fans expect.

To be honest, it’s no different at any of the other big clubs. Liverpool are the same, but if there’s one thing Liverpool do better it’s that they strike the right balance between being a commercial entity and a football club.

You need the commercial success if you’re to sustain results on the field. Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool seem to have it down to a tee. Klopp is well aware of Liverpool’s commercial appeal and the need to have that in modern football, but his job is to win matches and that feeds commercial success too.

If United are to get back up to the top table again they’ll have to learn how to strike that balance too.

Maybe van Gaal has some regrets about his time in charge at Old Trafford and that might have fuelled his comments. He probably felt like he’s doing his fellow Dutchman a favour by warning ten Hag about their commercial interests, but I doubt the Ajax manager will take much notice.

Wrexham is ‘Buzzing’

Meanwhile, I’ve been keeping an eye on Wrexham’s progress under their new celebrity ownership and things are bubbling along nicely in what is a unique experiment.

There was a legends game at Anfield last weekend and I was chatting with Peter Moore, the former CEO of Liverpool, who is living in America now and helped put the Wrexham project together with Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

We were keeping tabs on the score in their game with Dover, so to hear they came from 5-2 down to win 6-5 was absolutely amazing and it’s certainly one of the highlights so far under their new ownership.

They’re getting maximum crowd sell outs at their games now – around 8,500 were at the Dover game, which is incredible for non-league football. Stockport are running away with the league but no one will fancy playing Wrexham in the play-offs if they can stay in the top three.

There’s a lot of excitement around the club at the minute, Wrexham is buzzing. Having spoken to a few former Wrexham players, everyone is getting behind the new ownership because the club belongs in the Football League.

Let’s hope it happens this season, but even if it doesn’t it’s not all doom and gloom – something special is brewing there and it won’t take long for promotion to be achieved.

Wary of Watford

The Premier League returns this weekend and, as I’ve mentioned in previous columns, I’m not a fan of early kick-offs when Liverpool are involved – especially when they’re the first game back after an international break.

Thankfully Liverpool are at home to Watford this time around, which means no travelling up or down the country, but I’m still wary of any side managed by Roy Hodgson because he’s so good at organising a defence.

Players will no doubt be coming back from international duty with little niggles and maybe a bit of fatigue, so this is a really dangerous game for Liverpool, especially as Watford haven’t given up hope of survival.

With the mid-week internationals and the early kick-off, there’s very little preparation time for Klopp, which concerns me. Hodgson will set his side up not to concede and they’ll look to hit Liverpool on the break when the opportunity arises. These types of games are very dangerous.

On the plus side, there’s a little bit of extra motivation for Liverpool in that they could go top of the Premier League, if only for a couple of hours, as Manchester City play Burnley later in the day.

It’s so important to put pressure on Manchester City and only a win will do that. It’s so exciting to have a two-horse race again after much of the season looked like a formality for City. Here’s hoping the title race continues to deliver.