Ben Woodburn has Chris Coleman singing his praises – but the Wales boss says the Liverpool starlet has ‘still got a long way to go’
The 17-year-old who hit a superb winner vs Austria reveals how he had to rattle out a song to team-mates on his initiation
LIKE all newcomers for Wales, Ben Woodburn had to perform an initiation earlier this year.
The shy lad from Chester did a turn in front of Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and the rest.
Woodburn, 17, smiled: “I had to do a song. I sang Stand By Me. It wasn’t great, I can tell you.”
The Ben E King classic was a fitting choice for the new young king of Welsh football — because that is what Wales have done.
And that is also why the Three Lions never had a chance of pinching him — even though his parents are English.
Liverpool forward Woodburn sparked his international career into life on Saturday when he came on as a sub to score the winner against Austria and boost Wales’ chances of making the World Cup.
Yet he could be back on the bench in Moldova tomorrow in another must-win game.
Dragons boss Chris Coleman said: “He’s only young, it’s his first game for Wales. It was a great goal, he did great, but he’s got a long way to go.
“He knows that, we know that, Liverpool know that.”
On getting Woodburn to opt for Wales, Coleman added: “We’ve had to do no more extra work with Ben’s family.
“He’s always declared himself Welsh and that he wanted to play for Wales. He’s always been with our younger teams through the age groups. We’ve seen him coming through.
“I never thought it was going to go any other way. We’re in a privileged position because we’ve spoken to his family.
“I know there was talk of Ben playing for England but that was outside our little group and we can’t control that.
“I didn’t put him on because I thought ‘he can’t go anywhere else now’, I put him on to add something to us and he did that.”
Woodburn said: “The manager just said enjoy yourself and help the team the best you can and hopefully I did that.
“It came out the air and I took it down and tried to get it out my feet as quick as I could and luckily when I hit it, it went in.
“I like to do a few shots at the end of training and it paid off. I was just in dreamland. Hopefully we can get to the World Cup, it would be unbelievable.”
No doubt, some in the England set-up must have been watching on with regret that he chose Wales. Kop kid Woodburn was raised in Tattenhall, near Chester, just a few miles away from the Welsh border.
When he signed on at Anfield as a seven-year-old, the FA Wales Trust were made aware one of his grandparents hailed from their country.
He was invited down to train at Dragon Park, the FAW’s training HQ near Newport, for the first time in 2013 — when he was just 13.
He was drafted into the Under-15s squad and once in the system he has never looked back.
Of course the Three Lions were also aware of him too — after all he had attended English Schools training camps.
And in August 2014, he was called up by them for an Under-16s game against Belgium.
Woodburn turned it down though — opting instead to play for the Dragons in the same age group. From there he went on to captain the Under-17s and star for the Under-19s.
Yet it did not stop the spectre of England popping up again when he hit the headlines in November by becoming Liverpool’s youngest-ever goalscorer.
There was talk of a renewed bid by Wembley chiefs to turn his head — but Coleman insists it was never a possibility.
And what a way to nail your colours to the mast once and for all on Saturday night.
There are echoes of Ryan Giggs in the way he has chosen Wales over England.
And appropriately enough, the Manchester United legend was in the Cardiff City Stadium to see the youngster’s breathtaking moment.
Woodburn is a boy of few words but when you have feet like his that really does not matter.
His adopted country’s World Cup hopes were hanging by a thread when he came on as a substitute midway through the second half.
But four minutes later he plucked the ball out of the sky and drilled in a superb 20-yard shot from the edge of the box.
Wales have had some memorable moments in the past couple of years — and this one was right up there.
Former Baywatch star David Hasselhoff was among the thousands to hail the goal on social media on Saturday night.
Woodburn has come to the rescue of Wales in the nick of time and breathed new life into their hopes of reaching Russia.
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