Tosh pleased by defiant performance

Wales boss John Toshack hailed his young brigade after an encouraging performance in their 2-0 defeat by Brazil, the world's highest-ranked country, at White Hart Lane on Tuesday night.

Toshack blooded 17-year-old Gareth Bale against the likes of Ronaldinho and Kaka, and the youngster came through with flying colours.

He said: "Bale had an excellent 45 minutes. A very encouraging performance for a 17-year-old. He has figured in all of Southampton's games and he gives us good balance. He has a great left foot, and considering the opposition he did very well indeed. We are more than happy with him, and young Richard Duffy too on the other flank."

Toshack added: "I am pleased we took this game because we saw a lot of things that have interested us about our lads. It was very much worthwhile especially after the disappointment of the defeat in the Czech Republic on Saturday.

"I thought that for an hour it was a good match. If I wanted to be super-critical, some of the lads who came on for the last spell could have taken more advantage of their opportunity.

"But let's be fair, they (Brazil) are not a bad side, are they? Anyone would struggle a bit against that quality, we have to take that into consideration. For an hour we were not overawed, there were some very encouraging performances from some of the youngsters.

"We did create chances, but the problem is still putting the ball into the net. With a little more sharpness we could have had two or three before the break when the score was still 0-0."