Is Bale considered more of a success on the international stage than Giggs?

[SimonD]

If you want, you could say that what Bale did for Wales is an even greater achievement than what Cristiano did with Portugal. I mean, it is not as if Wales have loads of world class players in the team. With the feigning injury bit, I probably would put that down to Sir Alex having a say to keep his players fresh. Just as Arsene Wenger is doing with Ozil and Germany at the moment. Either way, credit to Bale for doing his bit for a small country (don't take that badly) where football isn't really the national sport; yes, I know, you are a supporter of Glamorgan CCC aren't you?

Yeh obviously it was down to Fergie, but it's the reason that despite being a United and PL legend I wouldn't go as far as to say he was a Welsh legend. Perhaps the most talented Welsh player ever, but didn't show enough in the shirt to be labelled more than that. National sport or not, there's only one sport for me.

Who would be your top 5?
Without putting too much thought in and in no order
Bale
Southall
Bellamy
J.Charles
Rush

Giggs would of course be in there if I was judging just on talent. I also think with the change in culture about playing for Wales, Giggs would have massively benefitted from playing in today's Welsh setup.

Those would be 4 of the 5. I'd be inclined to go with Speed ahead of Southall but I'm not sure if that'd be based on what he did while he was playing, or due to what he did as manager. Or a bit of both I guess.
Yeh Giggs would have benefited massively if he was playing today, if he was in his prime now I doubt he'd be using the international breaks to regain his fitness for United. But in saying that the team Giggs played for was solid enough, and who's to say that a Bale like presence in that 02-04 team wouldn't have been able to lift them enough to get through the qualifiers/playoff.

 

[Cascarino]

Those would be 4 of the 5. I'd be inclined to go with Speed ahead of Southall but I'm not sure if that'd be based on what he did while he was playing, or due to what he did as manager. Or a bit of both I guess.
Yeh Giggs would have benefited massively if he was playing today, if he was in his prime now I doubt he'd be using the international breaks to regain his fitness for United. But in saying that the team Giggs played for was solid enough, and who's to say that a Bale like presence in that 02-04 team wouldn't have been able to lift them enough to get through the qualifiers/playoff.

I had Speed in initially but took him out for Bellamy. As much as I loved Speedo (and he deserves so much credit for his managerial work with Wales) I have trouble putting him in, Southall is the record appearance holder (gk so not too impressive) , I really wanted to include Ivor Allchurch but 5 is tricky.

He could have definitely done more, but while there were decent players in that team, I don't think it compares to the level of today, defensively we are much much better. Was 04 qualifiers where the playoff was lost against Russia?

 

[Scholsey2004]

Yeah, there's no valid argument for giggs over bale at international level. You could argue that giggs played with Hughes rush and Saunders so he played in a better team as well, despite a poor defence. Giggs was a more graceful player though. Bales all speed and power by comparison.

 

[Scholsey2004]

Silly question because the answer is so blindingly clear. More pertinent question is Bale the more better and influential footballer for club and country over the course of their careers.

Talent wise, Giggs was streets ahead but as a matchwinning force at the highest level.. is Bale going to be remembered as the superior force?

Depends how long he can keep performing at the top. They're all different as athletes and its not always under their control.

 

[SimonD]

I had Speed in initially but took him out for Bellamy. As much as I loved Speedo (and he deserves so much credit for his managerial work with Wales) I have trouble putting him in, Southall is the record appearance holder (gk so not too impressive) , I really wanted to include Ivor Allchurch but 5 is tricky.

He could have definitely done more, but while there were decent players in that team, I don't think it compares to the level of today, defensively we are much much better. Was 04 qualifiers where the playoff was lost against Russia?

Yeh 04 campaign was when we beat Italy in the group stages then lost to Russia in the playoff.