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Wales national football team
Euro Champ Qualifying | Group Stage
Mar 24, 2019 at 2pm UK
 
Slovakia national football team

1-0

James (5')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Wales boss Ryan Giggs lauds "intelligent" Daniel James

Wales boss Ryan Giggs lauds
© Reuters
The Dragons are the only unbeaten side in their European Championship qualifying group after the first two rounds of matches.

Ryan Giggs believes Wales' youngsters passed a major examination in getting their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign off to a winning start.

Daniel James' fifth-minute strike gave Wales a 1-0 victory over Slovakia in Cardiff, and the confident Dragons might have added to their lead before the interval.

But Wales, who had seven players with fewer than 10 caps in the starting line-up, had to withstand late pressure before securing three points at the Cardiff City Stadium.

"We are going to learn from that because we were put under pressure at the end," said Wales manager Giggs.

"I challenged the players to keep more clean sheets because we feel with our attacking talent we are going to create chances.

"We are going to score goals. It's going to make it more important that we do keep clean sheets."

Swansea winger James was making his first competitive start for Wales, the 21-year-old having previously played only 56 minutes in the friendly defeat to Albania in November.

But James has established a growing reputation in the Sky Bet Championship this season and is drawing admiring glances from the Premier League.

Wales profited from their first attack when James caught Peter Pekarik napping on the edge of the Slovakia penalty area and drilled his shot past goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.

"He's brought his club form onto the international stage," Giggs said.

"I'm delighted because his overall game was fantastic, and to top it with a goal was great.

"He was just a threat all day, he will be with that pace but he's got much more as well.

"He can go either side, he's intelligent and he works hard. I am delighted for him that he got the winner."

Wales are the only unbeaten side in Group E after Croatia's surprise 2-1 defeat to Hungary in Budapest.

Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia have won one and lost one in the opening round of matches.

Azerbaijan lost their opening game and Wales next face a June double-header away to Croatia and Hungary.

"There was a bit of pressure on us," Giggs said.

"I tried to play it down beforehand, but you can't hide from the fact that the other teams had played and Croatia and Slovakia had got three points.

"We have two away games in June and a camp in May to bridge that gap.

"We didn't want a month without football and during that camp in May we will be able to work on stuff."

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Ryan Giggs in charge of Wales on March 20, 2019
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Tables header RHS

Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Spain Spain870121
Q Scotland flag Scotland852117
3 Norway Norway832311
4 Georgia Georgia82248
5 Cyprus Cyprus80080

Group B

TeamPWDLPTS
Q France France871022
Q Netherlands Netherlands860218
3 Greece Greece841313
4 Ireland Rep. Ireland82066
5 Gibraltar flag Gibraltar80080

Group C

TeamPWDLPTS
Q England flag England862020
Q Italy Italy842214
3 Ukraine Ukraine842214
4 Macedonia N. Macedonia82248
5 Malta flag Malta80080

Group D

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Turkey Turkey852117
Q Croatia Croatia851216
3 Wales flag Wales833212
4 Armenia Armenia82248
5 Latvia Latvia81073

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Albania national flag Albania843115
Q Czech Republic Czech Republic843115
3 Poland Poland832311
4 Republic of Moldova Moldova824210
5 Faroe Islands Faroe Islands80262

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Belgium Belgium862020
Q Austria Austria861119
3 Sweden Sweden831410
4 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan82157
5 Estonia Estonia80171

Group G

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Hungary Hungary853018
Q Serbia Serbia842214
3 Montenegro Montenegro832311
4 Lithuania Lithuania81346
5 Bulgaria Bulgaria80444

Group H

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Denmark Denmark1071222
Q Slovenia Slovenia1071222
3 Finland Finland1060418
4 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan1060418
5 Northern Ireland flag N. Ireland103079
6 San Marino flag San Marino1000100

Group I

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Romania Romania1064022
Q Switzerland Switzerland1045117
3 Israel Israel1043315
4 Belarus Belarus1033412
5 Kosovo flag Kosovo1025311
6 Andorra flag Andorra100282

Group J

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Portugal Portugal10100030
Q Slovakia Slovakia1071222
3 Luxembourg flag Luxembourg1052317
4 Iceland Iceland1031610
5 Bosnia Bosnia H'vina103079
6 Liechtenstein flag Liechtenstein1000100


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