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LILLE, France -- The Welsh have a word for it: Hwyl. It means passion, in the emotional or spiritual sense, in their Celtic language.And the Wales team has certainly been mining a rich seam of it at the European Championship. It beat a strongly-favored Belgium side 3-1 on Friday to line up a semifinal against Portugal, the national teams biggest achievement since reaching the quarterfinals of the 1958 World Cup.However, its a case of sporting success with a tragic backdrop.Over the past five years, the Welsh squad and its supporters have been coping with the sudden death of its coach, Gary Speed, who was found hanged in his home in 2011 at the age of 42.His childhood friend and fellow coach Chris Coleman took over the work that Speed had just begun with Welsh football, a sport constantly in the shadow of rugby -- in which Wales has enjoyed global success -- and in a country with a population of just over 3 million.Speeds progressive methods were starting to pay dividends when he died, a blow to Welsh football lovers who saw the young coach as a role model. He played 85 times for Wales and was its coach for less than a year.At every major game, the Welsh fans still sing in memory of Speed. Theres only one Speedo, goes the chant.At Euro 2016, excitement about the national team is clearly growing and tens of thousands of fans are expected to make the journey across the English Channel next week for the game against Portugal in Lyon.That support has become crucial to Welsh success. From a country famed for its singing, the national anthem of Wales, the 1856 song Hen Flad Fy Mhadau -- which translates into English as Land of my Fathers -- seems to inspire the team.You only have to listen to the `hwyl (of the anthem) to know the effect it has on the boys, spectator James Owen of Abertillery, southern Wales, said in Lille. The national anthem brings tears to your eyes and makes your hair stand on end when its sung in a football or rugby stadium.Only the Welsh understand the power of their anthem, which translates as follows.The Land of my fathers is dear unto meLand of Poets and singers and people of statureHer brave warriors, fine patriotsShed their blood for freedom.When Coleman took over in January 2012, Wales had recently been outside the top 100 in the world by FIFA rankings. Wales came into Euro 2016 in 26th position and will rise even further following its run to the semifinals. With 10 goals from five games, Wales is also among the top scoring teams in the competition.From the qualifying competition to the final tournament, success has helped to make Wales a closely-knit squad -- and that also includes their children.After the final whistle, as the crowd sings to the team, the players regularly bring their children onto the pitch and let them run around kicking footballs. About 10,000 fans cheered Gareth Bales three-year-old daughter in Paris when she managed to kick the ball into the net.We never forget our belief and our identity, Coleman told a news conference after Fridays victory.Bale is the teams undoubted star, but he is much more of a team player with Wales than he is with Real Madrid. As captain, he leads by example, working tirelessly.His relationship with Wales could not be more different than that of his club teammate Cristiano Ronaldo with the rest of the Portugal squad. Ronaldo often appears aloof from other players in the national side, and he can win games single handedly.There is also a contrast between the fortunes of the Welsh and their neighbor England, which still sees itself as a footballing giant despite a consistent record of tournament failure since winning the World Cup in 1966.Welsh fans chanted, Are You Watching England as Wales scored its third goal in the victory over Belgium, one of the tournament favorites.England failed to make it beyond the last 16, slumping to an embarrassing defeat to Iceland.From watching Euro 2012 on TV to playing in the semifinals of Euro 2016, the turnaround for the Welsh is little short of remarkable.Four years ago we were as far away as you can be from where we are right now, Coleman said. We find ourselves in an incredible position. Cheap Custom Jerseys . 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Just ten months after they met in a historic series, India and Pakistan are ready for another battle which promises to be just as exciting and closely fought as the previous one was. As part of the build-up to the forthcoming series, Cricinfo looks back at ten classic encounters between the two teams. We start off with the Karachi Test of 1982, when Imran Khans virtuoso performance lit up the National Stadium.This wasnt a Test that you would call great in the traditional sense. It was a no-contest: Pakistan won by an innings and 87 runs, their biggest win over India at the time, and one they went on to better two Tests later at Hyderabad. But the match was significant for the performance of one man - Imran Khan took 11 wickets in the match, eight of them in the second innings, five in the space of 25 balls, and the legend of reverse-swing was born. Sarfraz Nawaz is credited as being the early exponent of reverse-swing but on that third afternoon of the Karachi Test, Imran gave the most fearsome exhibition of the art which was yet to acquire a name.India, trailing by 283 runs, would have nurtured faint hopes of saving the game as Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar took them to 102 for 1 shortly after tea. The new ball had been negotiated comfortably and the only wicket to fall, that of Arun Lal, had been claimed by Abdul Qadir. But Imran returned for his second spell with a semi-old ball and, aided by a strong wind, produced prodigious late swing at a blistering pace that left the Indian batsmen numb.Gavaskar was the first go, bowled through the gate, and it signalled a procession. India ended the day at 118 for 7, and of Imrans five victims, four were bowled aand only Mohinder Amarnath managed to get his front pad in the way.dddddddddddd This was the spell that decided the series. Writing on the series for World Cricket Digest, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi termed it a case of overkill. Imran, who started the match with flu, ended the series with 40 wickets and by the time the Indians arrived in Hyderabad, Pakistani fans were holding up banners likening him to the F-16s, the American fighter planes that were the latest addition to Pakistans military stable.India had begun the Test horribly after being sent in on a newly laid, green-tinged pitch, by losing Gavaskar to a run-out from a direct hit by Imran, who then accounted for Vengsarkar with a ball that lifted and swung away. Arun Lal and Gundappa Viswanath put up a brief partnership, but India soon found themselves at 70 for 5. Kapil Dev avoided a total rout by merrily swinging away to a 53-ball 73. He was severe on Qadir in particular, hitting him for five fours and a six. And when Madan Lal removed Pakistans first three batsmen for 18, the day didnt seem so bad for India.However, the second day belonged to Pakistan. Zaheer Abbas, who had scored a double-century in the first Test at Lahore, stroked away to 186 and added 213 runs for the fifth wicket with Mudassar Nazar, who was batting down the order because of flu. With useful 30s from Imran and Wasim Bari, Pakistan ended up with 452. India stayed in the battle for a couple of hours, after which it was all Imran.Sambit Bal is editor of Cricinfo in India and of Wisden Asia Cricket magazine. ' ' '