sport news IAN HERBERT: Gareth Bale would have pictured himself getting a hero's farewell ... trends now
The outcome was brutal and dis-spiriting but above all there was an extraordinary sadness about the way it all ended for arguably the greatest footballer the Welsh nation has known. The one without whom they would have never touched the heights these past eight years.
Gareth Bale would have pictured in his mind's eye a hero's farewell here. A red wall standing as one to cheer him off, at the World Cup his country had awaited so long.
But this was something very different. When the second half began, Bale simply walked to the dug-out and sat there, those distinctive big eyes of his blinking in the reality that his tournament – and probably his time in the red jersey he cherishes most - was over.
Gareth Bale would've pictured himself getting a hero's farewell at the World Cup in Qatar
Instead, he bowed out of the international stage from the bench after picking up an injury
They talked about an injury. With five minutes of the first half to run, he had stretched his leg out and seemed to feel under his thigh, though that seemed a convenient way to dress up the crushing reality that he just could not shape this game or even contribute to it. Sport and the tide of time has a habit of lacking any sentiment for those whose gifts have served it best.
The song the Welsh choir sing – 'Yma o Hyd' - translates as 'Still Here' but it was hard to detect anything other than strain on Bale's face from the moment he stepped into the stadium. It was in his eyes as he stared out from the tunnel.
It was in his comportment as he mopped his brow with his sleeve, just before the teams stood to stand the anthem. He'd walked out with a bottle in his hand. He knew how much the heat was on Wales.
He might have contributed more had Wales managed to maintain possession of the ball in that first half, though they surrendered it so often that were in constant retreat. Bale's first meaningful contribution, seven minutes in, was an arced cross-field ball for Daniel James which flew straight into touch. Another ball bobbled between his legs.
The Welshman had just seven touches during their first-half encounter against England
The LAFC forward (right) scored one goal for Wales in Qatar - a penalty against the USA
Take your pick of the numbers which were circulating on FIFA's information systems at half time.
Bale's seven touches in the first 45 minutes was the most deadening from the perspective of a Wales side who held 21 per cent per possession and completed 129 passes to England's 352. It was rather stating the obvious to say that Bale's pass completion was 0 per cent.
He and those players all around him were being asked to salvage some pride with a formation barely known to them: four at the back, as Rob Page dispensed with the three-man defence which has been his article of faith.
Perhaps those who have followed the team out here knew what was coming because even the Red Wall was sparser than it had been when the team played Iran.
The expectation had been that Wales would go at England with the full weight
