Chris joined Reading in the summer of 2002, and so at the moment I don't know the details of his career up to that point. However, a player called Christopher Davies has played for Wales Schools Under-15s - I just don't know if it was our one or not!
Chris received his international cap for the game against Germany on the Madejski Stadium pitch before Reading's match with Northampton Town. John Madejski made the presentation.
Chris was in the Wales Under-17 squad to take on Germany in Llanelli, so I decided to go along and watch. Originally the game was to be in the evening, but because of the Wales v Argentina match being arranged for that night, the Under-17 match was moved to a 1.30pm kick-off.
Llanelli's Stebonheath Park ground has a record attendance of 20,000, although since massive redevelopment it now holds just over 3,000, including 700 in a nice little stand. The ground has a running track around it, but as it only has two lanes it doesn't interfere with the view much. It's an ideal venue for this sort of game.
When I got a team sheet, Chris was listed as a substitute, although I knew before travelling that he was likely to get on. (In fact, both teams used all their substitutes.) 14 of the 18-strong Welsh squad were from Nationwide League teams, including seven from Cardiff City. In contrast the German line-up all played for teams like Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt, so it looked as though Wales were in for a pretty tough time.
The opening minutes of the game confirmed this, with the Germans looking rampant, but gradually Wales got more into the match, forcing one good save from the German keeper, and the half-time score of 0-0 was fair enough. At half-time we had a quick chat with ex-Reading player Steve Wood, who is the agent for one of the Welsh players who is at Southampton. Because of the two Southampton players in the starting line-up, Channel 5's "The Academy" programme, which goes out at around 12.35pm on Sundays and features the Southampton Academy, had cameras at this game.
Three minutes into the second half, Chris Davies came on and took up an attacking midfield role directly behind the front two. Playing in the centre of the pitch, he was involved in a lot of the action. Within seconds of getting on the pitch, he took part in an attack but that move broke down. Ten minutes later a fantastic ball was played over the top of the German defence for Chris to run onto, but his shot was straight at the keeper.
Only a couple of minutes after that, Chris had the ball in the net, after controlling a left wing cross and firing it past the keeper. Unfortunately, the Welsh referee gave handball for when he controlled the ball. It was a shame that he hadn't managed to produce that shot in the previous move. Chris appeared unhappy at the decision (and the Wales manager had to ask him what it was for), although that may have just been disappointment rather than disagreement.
For the remainder of the game, Chris was involved in most of the Welsh attacks, setting up shots or passing the ball out to the wing. His play looked very positive, but none of the moves ended in a goal. Germany had always looked dangerous, in particular with their centre-back Daniyel Cimen spraying impressive passes all over the field. From a move that started with one of his passes, Germany took the lead after the Welsh keeper had made an impressive double save and the ball had not been cleared by his defence.
Although the German keeper was forced to make another save, Wales were unable to find an equaliser and so lost the game 1-0. They had played way above my expectations, especially after the opening minutes, but that was probably still more or less a fair result.
Sam Hammam was at the game, with his minder - I did manage to snatch a couple of words with the Cardiff chairman before a steward jokingly asked him not to stand near the dugout. So bang went my chance of some big exclusive. There were also plenty of scouts in evidence - I saw them from Newcastle, Portsmouth, Ipswich and Birmingham. Hopefully none of them will be trying to prise away our latest international.
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