Chris Coleman Coleman rejects 'lucky Wales' claim from Austria coach
Thursday 6 October 2016 10:58, UK
Chris Coleman has hit back at claims Wales were lucky to reach the last four at Euro 2016 by insisting his team handled pressure better than some other sides.
Austria coach Marcel Koller - whose own side finished bottom of their group and failed to progress to the knockout stages - made the suggestion ahead of the teams' World Cup qualifier in Vienna on Thursday.
Wales won their section - beating Russia and Slovakia - before seeing off Northern Ireland and Belgium on their way to the last four where they lost out to eventual winners Portugal.
Coleman said: "We played more than most, had more opportunities, played more football, but I would not put our achievement down to luck.
"You can get lucky over 90 minutes, but you don't do that because of luck. We had good and bad luck but we achieved because we are a good team.
"There were teams with big reputations who had great qualifying campaigns but could not handle it. We handled it. So, no, I wouldn't put the semi-final down to luck."
Coleman believes Koller might have been referring to the early moments of their first game at the finals in France against Slovakia when Ben Davies cleared Marek Hamsik's goal-bound shot off the line.
He added: "That was not luck, it was good defending and commitment to the cause,"
"We had bad luck in the first game when they should have been down to 10 men and we should have had a penalty for (Martin) Skrtel's challenge on Jonny Williams.
"These boys know what is at stake and we don't worry about what anyone says about us. There has been all sorts said about what we do.
"But we concentrate on ourselves and the game plan. We stick to that. We will respect Austria, but we will concentrate on what we have worked on. It is about what we do."
Austria have specific plans to keep Gareth Bale - who is now within four goals of Ian Rush's Welsh international record of 28 - quiet at the Ernst Happel Stadion.
Coleman is unconcerned by that and said: "That is not a new plan. That is what he faces every week with Real Madrid and when he plays for us.
"You can work as much as you like defensively, shut them out for 89 minutes and a split second changes everything.
"It is very difficult to come up with a game plan when you're up against brilliance - and that's what Gareth Bale is."
