Nations League 2022-23: 'We have to learn the dark arts' - Bale after Wales' loss to Netherlands

In its second clash of the UEFA Nations League (UNL) 2022-23 A (Group 4), Wales suffered a slender defeat to the Netherlands. The visitors played at the Cardiff City Stadium and walked away with a 2-1 win. As a result of this defeat, the hosts have slumped to the bottom of the table. With no wins yet, it could be staring at an early elimination from the group stage. On the other hand, the Dutch have climbed to the top spot, winning both their matches so far, as they look to be going strong. Meanwhile, star Welsh striker Gareth Bale is not impressed with his side's performance, especially after having sealed its FIFA World Cup 2022 berth, and wants his boys to learn the 'dark arts' of winning.

As for the game, it was a competitive first half, with the deadlock not being broken at the half-time break, as it remained goalless. In the ensuing half, Teun Koopmeiners put the Netherlands ahead in the 50th minute after an assist from Jerdy Schouten. Although Rhys Norrington-Davies levelled it in the injury time through Connor Roberts' assist, Wout Weghorst handed the lead a couple of minutes later, at the stroke of full-time, thanks to Tyrell Malacia for the assist.

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Following the defeat, Bale told S4C, "It was a difficult game. We didn't have our full-strength squad. The boys who came in worked hard to get the equaliser, [and] then, concede so early after that was gutting. It's something we have to learn, maybe the dark arts of taking them down. We need to learn from this."

"They're [Netherlands] a world-class team, [but] we're in this A-league now because we deserve to be testing ourselves against the best. If you're the tier below, you get away with that at the end. You play the top teams, don't do the things you need to do, and get punished. It's hard to take, but it's something we need to learn from. We're still a young team. We have to learn from stuff like that and take it forward," concluded Bale.