BALTIMORE, Maryland, Saturday, July 2, 2016 - If there is, indeed, magic in sports, and if there is nobility to actions executed on an athletic pitch, then they both were manifested on Friday in Lille Metropole in France. One of the oldest and least-accomplished national teams in all of sports, the Welsh football team, continued their magical run with a performance for all of the ages, storming from behind to beat the No. 2 team in the sport, Belgium, in the Euro 2016 Quarterfinals, 3-1. First Hal Robson-Kanu, then Sam Vokes, scored wonderful, breath-taking goals as the Welsh rallied dramatically. Belgium, ranked No. 2 in the world by FIFA, took the lead in the match on a goal by Radja Nainggolan in the 13th minute. The lead lasted until the half-hour mark, when the inspiring Ashley Williams stung the back of the Belgian net, to the shear joy and elation of the Welsh faithful. That 1-1 tie lasted to the halftime rest. Robson-Kanu struck at 55 minutes on a masterpiece of a feed from Aaron Ramsey. Now, the Welsh were up, 2-1. Belgium's stars raced forward, flooding the zone around Wales' Outstanding Keeper, Wayne Hennessey, but after Nainggolan's score, Hennessey would not yield. Still, the pressure mounted and mounted, and was resisted and resisted.
Then the purest form of heavenly intervention arrived in Lille Metropole. The Belgium pressure was unbearable and the man of the hour, Robson-Kanu, was exhausted. Welsh coach Chris Coleman decided that he had no choice but to pull Robson-Kanu in favor of Burnley's Sam Vokes. It was the stuff with which genius is defined. On a whim, a counter-attack took place. Down the right wing, ball at this feet, raced Chris Gunter of the Welsh side. Then he lofted a high feed into the box. Cutting from the other side was Vokes. Now, he raced to the ball and leaped while on the dead run. As his heIt seemed to this observer that Vokes could leap no higher nor hang any longer than he did in that rarefied French air. Vokes used his head to strike the flying feed, and in doing so re-directed the Gunter feed toward the upper corner of the goal at the far post. Belgium's talented Keeper - Thibaut Courtois - leaped and dove toward the ball, but never really came close. The ball ripped into that upper corner of the net without being touched. Now, all of Belgium's fleeting hopes were away, fluttering on a powerful updraft of Welsh joy. To see the unrestrained happiness and glee on the faces of Vokes and Gunter was the most wonderful thing. For those fleeting moments, the evil of ISIS and the haughty narcissism of Hillary Clinton disappeared from the Earth, replaced, if only for a moment, by all the good this Earth could muster. Now the score was Wales 3, Belgium 1. Wales is through to the Euro 2016 Semi-Final. That is farther than any Welsh Side has ever advanced in a major tournament.
On Wednesday, July 6, beginning at 9 pm French Time (3 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time) in Lyon, Wales will take on Portugal in the first of two Euro 2016 Semi-Final Matches. The second semi-final, between Germany and the winner of today's final Quarterfinal between France and Iceland, will be on Thursday at 9 pm French Time in Marseilles. The two winners will play for the Euro 2016 Title on Sunday, July 10, in St. Denis.
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