NOT OVER THE MOON or SICK AS A PARAGUAY

WALES 0 PARAGUAY 0 Friendly


The Arctic Monkeys is not the latest vogue group, it's the kids with horns who go to watch Wales on a freezing night like last night. At least they were there.

Just 12,324 went. Mind you, that's still a fair few more than Cardiff City can muster these days! It included 60 or so Paraguayans with one chant, a double whistle by chief cheerleader followed by Par-a-guay. The South Americans, surely mostly exiles, must have enjoyed the bracing South Wales weather. The roof was shut, it didn't help.

The crowd were 90% made to occupy one side of the stadium, no surprise to learn that was the side opposite the tv cameras. I think the crowd was about right, it was the venue that was wrong - this should have been taken to Swansea or Wrexham but I won't complain about another chance to watch my country and, of course, there was always the opportunity to buy a cheap seat and walk into a best one if you were daring enough - many of us were!

Other advantages - car parking near the ground was easy, getting to the front of a bar and served even easier. You could even get a seat in pubs around the ground. The novelty of it all!

As for the game, it was an international friendly. Like testimonials, pre-season games and FAW Premier Cup games, there is no answer to the question, "when have you ever seen a good one?".

For Wales however, with the serious business of Euro'2008 qualifiers starting early next season and John Hartson finally retiring from the international scene after two years worth of performances in the red shirt that made many think he already had, this was a time to test young blood and those who can perhaps serve us over the next few years.

With that in mind, it was a shock to see 39 year old Paul Jones in goals. However it was just as well because he turned out to be the Welsh hero making 4 or 5 superb stops before finally being replaced by Lewis Price for the final quarter, the rookie keeper also making one fantastic stop.

The Paraguayans, as with all Latin American nations, were nimble and skilful. Their first World Cup 2006 match is against England and, on this limited evidence, they can certainly give them a good game. I look forward to supporting them!

They do look loose at the back however and their shooting, despite the saves was quite poor. Both need to be sharpened if they're going to do anything more than make up the numbers.

For Wales, Ginge and Gabbs didn't control and look as assured as they can be in a 3-5-2 system. The one who caught the eye was Lewin Nyatanga (a great taffy name) who with just 13 league games for Derby and at just 17 and a half became the youngest ever Welsh international, taking that title from Ryan Green. I only hope he goes onto achieve far more than that player.

He certainly showed the talent. A good left foot, tidy composure, he looked more than comfortable at this level. Nyatanga even managed to get up front but put a header wide. He could not have hoped for a better debut. Well done son.

In the system, Jason Koumas didn't stand out as much as his golden daps. I can only hope he was saving himself for Saturday. With some irony, Wales won their only dangerous free-kick of the night after he went off, Ginge scooped that one over. Midfield overall were functional and methodical, Simon Davies being the pick for me until he limped off.

Strikers for the night, and likely the immediate future, were Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy. With no target man, the style is very much to hit them early, even hit them long, hit them in their direction and let's see what they can conjure. On the night, it wasn't a great deal.

Bellamy took the friendly exercise spirit far too literally and jogged through the game in a half-hearted manner. He had four or five outstanding chances, in a competitive game, you would have backed him to have scored at least one or two of them. Instead, the Paraguayan keeper didn't really have a save to make ... unless you count Bellamy's attempted lob when clear on goal with all the time in the world, that he scooped into his arms instead.

Giggs took on too much responsibility, was over-elaborate and often tried to do it by himself. He never came off for him, it was never likely to. However, in a match situation, there's little doubt those two can cause a lot of problems. It may even be we are better away from home than at home.

A poor spectacle became even more disjointed in the second half with both sides using their rotas of 5 subs but at what seemed like 2 minute intervals. More youngsters for Wales and the crowd were particularly happy to see Earnie and Joe Ledley come on. Joe looked good, he has the attributes to be a long-serving Welsh international. Earnie's lost weight but hasn't increased his danger just yet. In fact, all I noticed him do twice was spin himself dizzy on the touchline trying to twist and turn past players and taking the ball out instead.

Biggest groan of the night came with the over-enthusiatic tannoy man (did he really bleat on about a fantastic and memorable night at final whistle?) excitedly announced that we had three minutes of added time. We didn't want it mate!

Overall with players like Cotterill and Crofts also getting involved, it can only have been a useful night for the national team. Whether it was a useful night for spectators and the tv audience is entirely another matter.