Jess Fishlock has revealed the debt she owes Louis van Gaal as she prepares to become the first Welsh footballer to win 100 caps.
The Wales women’s midfielder will reach the milestone on Wednesday night in an otherwise low key friendly at home to Northern Ireland at Ystrad Mynach.
A century of caps puts her on her own as no player, man or women, has reached three figures before in senior Welsh international football. It is more caps than Neville Southall (92), Gary Speed (85) and Craig Bellamy (78) managed and 33 more than Gareth Bale (66).
It is, though, still some way behind England’s leading cap holder, Fara Williams, who has reached the 150 mark – a reflection of the many more matches England have played in reaching tournament finals.
Wales have not managed that, which makes Fishlock’s landmark at the age of 30 all the more remarkable. Sometimes, Wales have played as few as six games in a year.
In an interview with The Guardian, the current Seattle Reign player has revealed playing in Holland for AZ Alkmaar brought her in contact with Van Gaal and the impact the former Manchester United and Holland manager had on her development.
“Louis van Gaal took a couple of our training sessions,” she says. “He was head coach of the men’s team at the time and was very pro the women’s game.
“Both sessions he put on started with a basic passing routine but they lasted for ages because he was obsessed with them being perfect. He’d shout: ‘Stop, back to the beginning,’ if someone did something that was not 100% right. I’ve never seen attention to detail like it. It was awe-inspiring but also a little crazy, which tallies with the stories you hear about how he drilled the players at United.
“I spoke to him a few times and he was really nice. His knowledge of football is insanely good.”
The friendly on Wednesday is the first of two Wales are playing against Northern Ireland in preparation for the upcoming World Cup qualifying campaign. The second is on Friday, also at the Centre for Sporting Excellence.
Fishlock says: “When I play for Wales I concentrate purely on doing the best I can for the team and that’ll be the same on Wednesday. It’ll just be another game.
“But yes, I do recognise reaching 100 caps is an unbelievable achievement, as is being Wales most capped player. To be ahead of some of the greats we’ve had is humbling.
“I’ve travelled a lot and that was initially the case because when I started playing there was nothing for women’s football back home.
“I joined Cardiff, my local team, at the age of seven and made my debut at 15, during the days before professionalism and the WSL [Women’s Super League].
“As a female player you still had to pay to play for a club and overall the standard was not great, something I found even after I moved to Bristol Academy [in 2011]. It got to the stage where I knew that, if I was going to achieve what I wanted to achieve from football, I had to go abroad.”
Former Wales Women’s manager Jarmo Matikainen had Fishlock as captain during his four-year tenure.
He told the Football Association of Wales, “Jess has this fantastic passion for playing for Wales, and she was brilliant for us in that respect.
“Playing for her country is so important to her. She has this incredible respect for it means to represent her country, and her commitment to Wales is admirable.
“During my time with Wales, Jess always displayed a real team and work ethic in everything she did, and it’s fantastic to see her reaching 100 caps.”
