Chris Coleman insists the future will belong to the young for Wales – despite the defeat that marked the Wales debuts of Ethan Ampadu and David Brooks.
Ampadu, 17, and 20-year-old Brooks made their international bows at the Stade de France in Paris on Friday night but could not prevent World Cup-bound France from a gaining a deserved 2-0 win.
For Wales, the friendly was about setting a new course after their failure to make next summer’s finals. In that sense, the 64th minute emergence of Ampadu and Brooks was notable as was their enthusiastic and bold contribution to an open second-half.
With 18-year-old Ben Woodburn also coming on for his fifth cap, the sight of the trio striding forward at the same time felt symbolic and significant. Coleman says the three players will now form an increasingly big part of their country’s future.
“We have to be careful with the youngsters,” said the Wales manager.
“We can’t over expose them. Even with the experienced lads we had on the pitch, against that type of quality they are going to create chances.
“I needed them to experience it, even if it was only for 30 minutes, to play against some of the best players at the top level.
“They’ve got that now and they need more of it. When the serious games come around again they need as many minutes on the pitch as we can give them.
“More of them will get some more on Tuesday night against Panama, but it will have done them the world of good to come on in that kind of atmosphere tonight.”
Goals from Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud sealed a comfortable victory for Les Bleus and Wales were thankful for the woodwork on three occasions as Didier Deschamps’ men produced another impressive display.
Coleman added: “They are a super talented team. For us we are in a bit of a transitional period and will be for the next 12 months. It is a bit of a hangover after the bitter disappointment of the last game in the last campaign.
“We were playing against a team that have momentum and are a top, top team – probably the best team we have ever played against. We are trying to regather ourselves in what is a difficult period for us. That’s why we accepted this game.
“They are a great team who score lots of goals and have lots of possession. But it was good for us to experience that tonight and great for our younger players to experience it.
“What we had we gave. We have got another gear in us, but that‘s probably more of a psychological component after the hang-over of the disappointment of the last campaign. I can’t knock them, overall it was a good run out for us.”
Liverpool forward Woodburn became an instant hit in September when he scored a World Cup winner against Austria within five minutes of coming off the bench.
The Paris defeat was his fifth appearance as a substitute, while Chelsea teenager Ampadu and Sheffield United striker Brooks made encouraging debuts.
Ampadu, in particular, caught the eye in midfield with his composure on the ball, though he is just as at home in central defence.
All three youngsters are set to start against Panama at the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday when Coleman is expected to field an experimental line-up.
Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey said: “It was a great experience for the younger boys coming on. Hopefully now we can learn from this, get together now and build on what is going to be a very important European campaign.
“They are a great team with so many options. It was a tough test for us and we took a bit of time to get going. In the end we did create a few dangerous opportunities.”
