Can Gareth Bale conjure one last miracle against England? Wales must win to reach the last 16

The sun shone again during that endless summer on the French coast of Brittany, when Gareth Bale walked into a classroom for a discussion, remembered over the six years because of just one of the many words he spoke.

How many English players would make the Wales line-up? he was asked. “None,” he replied. His discussion about Wales, England and why he shouldn’t have played for the latter, even if he never won a tournament final because of it, was so fascinating that Bale left the room to applause. “We feel more pride and passion than anyone else,” he said at the Wales base in Dinard.

That confidence grew out of tremendous self-confidence, which we now know was the tidal wave of a glorious Welsh football generation. But contrast the way Bale has diligently avoided any perceived contempt for England in his precious few public appearances here.

The talisman striker Gareth Bale has long been his country’s hero leading the way for Wales

“I know you’re trying to get me to say something about England,” he said to an innocent question about leading the group. And your heart sank.

Everywhere you looked in the summer of 2016, gold dust from Wales was sprinkled over a joyless, gray, crass England.

After Ray Lewington, Roy Hodgson’s assistant, accidentally revealed England’s team form, Wales manager Chris Coleman brandished a line-up of his own that he let the cameras capture.

It was a 4-4-2 formation of Cafu, Moore, Beckenbauer, Carlos, Zico, Charlton, Socrates, Best, Pele and Maradona. Recreating such a deft mind is nearly impossible amid the desolation of Friday’s defeat to Iran.

In the aftermath, you longed for Bale to walk back into a room and deliver the kind of reassurance that Dafydd Iwan, activist, politician, and writer of the folk song Yma o Hyd (“Still Here”) would be proud of.

Rob Page’s must beat old rivals England on Monday for any chance of progression

But it was defender Chris Mepham who insisted these players would be fighting the good fight, the handbrake was off and Wales would be the ‘wounded animal’.

One day we’ll find out if Bale sees the move to Los Angeles as a mistake. It would have been an almighty comedown to have signed for Cardiff City, a side five points from bottom of the Championship after sacking manager Steve Morison after ten games, but at least he could have been fit in Qatar arrived.

The struggles of club football – marginalized at Real Madrid and a lesser part than he would have wished for at Tottenham Hotspur – have come at the expense of the only team and squad he has close.

With only Ethan Ampadu holding the fortress, Page will need to bolster his punctured midfield

The same goes for Aaron Ramsey. If Wales manager Rob Page selected on form, Ramsey would not be in the starting line-up against England and Bale would also have to do his job.

Some of the lively Wales fans here yesterday endorsed the view that both could be used as impact substitutes, but there’s too much history for that to happen. Page won’t want to tarnish what could be their final appearances in a Wales jersey.

If Page selected on form, Aaron Ramsey would probably miss out

If both are selected, Page must find a way to contain the central space available to Iran on Friday when only Ethan Ampadu, who plays his club football at lowly Spezia, in Serie A, held the fortress. Joe Allen will be crucial as Wales hold England for 80 minutes.

Wales would need a 1-0 win to qualify if the US and Iran drew, and they will hope that fears of an England side being knocked out could play into their hands. The memory of 2016 may mean the most to them.

England will be reminded of the Wales clip celebrating Hodgson’s team’s ignominious departure to Iceland – filmed by Jonny Williams and posted to a WhatsApp group. But Wales have the 2-1 group stage defeat to England in Lens to motivate them. Daniel Sturridge’s winner came in the 91st minute.

The two sides met at Euro 2016 in France when Daniel Sturridge scored a winner in stoppage time

The players consoled themselves after that defeat with a group meal that included a hamburger, fries and a Nutella pancake, but it has not been forgotten. Eight of that squad are in this one. “We were so devastated,” Williams said. “It would be nice to get a result against them here.”

Suddenly manager Coleman’s appeal from that summer in Dinard seems more appropriate than ever.

“As a nation, we have always settled for too little,” he said. ‘To go that extra mile, you have to be a little different than before.’