Cardiff, Sunday @PeopleSports11
Daniel James was Wales’ goal-scoring hero as they launched their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with a 1-0 win over Slovakia in Cardiff on Sunday.
Swansea winger James, making his first competitive start for Wales, struck in just the fifth minute with a goal that ultimately saw the hosts to victory.
“It was a good start after we got that early goal. From then on, we had to dig in. The only thing I had in my head was to shoot and luckily it went in,” James told Sky Sports.
Wales star Gareth Bale, captaining the side in place of benched regular skipper Ashley Williams, added: “Everyone put in a shift today. We built our success off a good solid defence. We work hard in units. We always knew we could nick a goal.”
“In the second half we came under a lot of pressure but we started the game well, got the early goal then shut up shop and we know how to do that,” the Real Madrid forward insisted.
Wales manager Ryan Giggs made 11 changes from Wednesday’s 1-0 friendly victory over Trinidad and Tobago.
Slovakia, by contrast, were unchanged after beating Hungary 2-0 in their opening qualifier on Thursday. The Cardiff City Stadium was bathed in sunshine and Wales made an equally bright start. -AFP
