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Portugal 2-0 Wales: Euro 2016 exit marks end of an amazing story

LYON, FRANCE - JULY 06:  Wales players and staffs applaud supporters after the UEFA EURO 2016 semi final match against Portugal

Wales are finally going home after a 2-0 semi-final defeat to Portugal in Lyon but it's been a story for the ages, writes Adam Bate.

Together stronger. Wales proved it. Over four weeks in six cities, they provided some of the standout sights and sounds of Euro 2016 on and off the pitch. They edged out England in Group B, then came from behind to beat Belgium in one of the games of the tournament.

Wales exit Euros
Wales exit Euros

Portugal scored twice in the second half to see off Wales and reach the Euro 2016 final.

It took them to the semi-finals, thus eclipsing anything any British team has ever done on foreign soil. There, on a warm night in Lyon, even a united Wales couldn't parlay their spirit into anything more. Cristiano Ronaldo's considerable gifts proved just too much.

Chris Coleman hated his side being patronised. And yet, even he must concede it was all so unlikely. Wales were ranked 112 in the world in 2010 and lost 6-1 to Serbia two years later. They weren't even among the top 32 in Europe when the draw was made for Euro 2016.

In Gareth Bale, of course, Wales possess a genuine superstar. But Aaron Ramsey is the only other player in the squad to have featured in last season's Champions League. Scratch the surface and theirs is a tale of grafters who've surpassed themselves this summer.

Some have been doing so for a while. Leicester's Andy King was hoping to complete the most outrageous of doubles. Ashley Williams has become one of the Premier League's most reliable defenders since being released by West Brom and working at a petrol station.

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See how Wales fans took over Lyon ahead of their Euro 2016 semi-final

But other successes could not have been predicted. Reading duo Chris Gunter and Hal Robson-Kanu belied their standing in the game. The latter has scored 17 goals in 173 Championship appearances but invoked the spirit of Cruyff to net a beauty against Belgium.

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The explanations offered for this alchemy were eerily similar. Team spirit conquers all. "It is great - really great - to be surrounded by all of the boys you grew up with," said Jonny Williams of playing alongside Ben Davies and Danny Ward, former Under-17 team-mates.

It was a footballer, Steve Archibald, who famously described team spirit as an illusion glimpsed in the aftermath of victory. But for Wales, this is no conundrum involving chickens and eggs. The togetherness predates their arrival on French soil. It precipitated this success.

Nani of Portugal celebrates after scoring his team's second goal
Image: Nani celebrates after scoring Portugal's second goal of the game

"All this spirit, we're not just showing it in this tournament," said Coleman. "We've gone through a whole qualifying campaign to get here where the players' attitude was exactly the same. Where we find ourselves now, it hasn't happened overnight.

"The players, the bonds they have together, that togetherness ... it's easy now to say we have great team spirit. It's easy to say that on a shiny day, but that spirit is real. It came from the darker days."

Arsene Wenger said during this tournament that he feels all players must come through a difficult moment in order to fulfil their potential and the same can be said of this team. All that's been achieved has occurred against the backdrop of Gary Speed's death in 2011.

Portugal's forward Cristiano Ronaldo (R) shakes hands with Wales' forward Gareth Bale
Image: Cristiano Ronaldo shakes hands with Gareth Bale after their semi-final

Coleman has never sought to shy away from it, but still forged a happy group nevertheless. Speaking to Sam Vokes last year, it was telling that he spoke of how he'd linked up with the national team for training camps even during his own rehab, just to be a part of the buzz.

"It's not just about talent," added Coleman. "It's about having players with good mentality. You don't always get the dressing room you want, there are always one or two you don't want. But I can't say that about this group."

How far can it take a team? Almost all the way, as it turns out. This was a side able to focus when it mattered but still stay true to the spirit of the smallest nation ever to reach the last four of the Euros - the celebrations with their children on the pitch earning UEFA's ire.

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Thierry Henry thinks Wales have shown that team spirit can trump quality

Unfortunately, even the best teams can struggle to cope without their better players and Wales lost two of theirs for this tie - Ramsey of Arsenal and Davies of Tottenham. Without the north London pair, things went south early on in the second half.

And so, a journey that began with Bale's late goal edging them past Andorra 2-1 on an artificial pitch ended with Simon Church, fresh from relegation to the third tier of English football with MK Dons, harrying the Portugal defence to the strains of Men of Harlech.

It was a different song that had been the sound of the French summer. Wales fans had pleaded incessantly not to be taken home from their dream trip. Well, after an enthralling Euro 2016, this Wales team are going home. But they're going home as heroes.

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