Suffering a virus and nursing an ankle injury, but Gareth Bale is poised to play

Sports Writer

Friday 22 March 2013

GARETH BALE has a "very, very good chance" of starting tonight's World Cup qualifier against Scotland, despite the illness which has left him unable to participate in a full training session all week and caused the Tottenham Hotspur attacker to fly north independently of the squad.

Gareth Bale trained alone at Hampden Park

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Stewart Fisher

Bale was only able to do a "modified" work-out on his own at Hampden yesterday as he battles the virus and ankle problem which have laid him low since his club's defeat to Fulham on Sunday and will be assessed again by FAW doctors this morning. But after a day of intrigue and speculation over the player's availability, Chris Coleman, the Wales manager, insisted last night he was not the type to play mind games and the 23-year-old wouldn't be in Glasgow if he wasn't likely to play.

"He has got a very, very good chance to play," said Coleman. "I can't give you a 50%, 60% or 70%. The doctors and the medical team are happy with his response, and he is in good spirits. He is better than he was the day before, so hopefully he will be okay. He has bruising on his ankle and had a scan on Monday or Tuesday, but that was not such a big concern. But he was ill on Tuesday night, and didn't sleep, and that's what kept him out for an extra few days."But he is in our plans, otherwise we would not have brought him up. It would have been pointless us flying him up if we did not think he had a really good chance to start. We have to wait and see how he comes through training, but we are optimistic. He took his own, separate, flight up. So he wants to be here. I'm not the type of manager to come out and play mind games. I don't have an elaborate plan up my sleeve, like saying he's not going to play when he is. I don't see the point."The 23-year-old, who has a combined total of 25 goals for club and country this season, including both strikes as Wales beat Scotland 2-1 in Cardiff in October, is the kind of player you make allowances for, but his non-participation in training drills all week is hardly ideal for the Welsh coach, who must already plan for the tie without Joe Allen, Adam Matthews and David Vaughan."It's not easy to assimilate a player into a squad if he's not trained all week," Coleman conceded. "But good players understand quickly. Gareth's not trained all week but he knows how we play and he knows his role. He's had a lot of games for Tottenham and the way he plays is dynamic. He's quick and powerful so maybe a rest will have done him good. But we won't take risks with him, and not just because it's Gareth Bale. It would be the same with any player."How to stop Bale is an issue which has focused minds across Scotland, but Coleman gave short shrift to the veiled threat from John Brown, the Dundee manager, that "he can't run without legs". "I'm happy if they want to do that and we're playing against eight or nine, because there is only so many times you can do that before you're off the pitch," Coleman said. "Twenty five years ago, fair enough. But the game has evolved and it's Neanderthal to think like that."

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Suffering a virus and nursing an ankle injury, but Gareth Bale is poised to play

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