Michael Sheen Addresses Wales Soccer Team Before World Cup

Michael Sheen Addresses Wales Soccer Team Before World Cup

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Michael Sheen may have had a small role in Wales’ miraculous performance at the upcoming World Cup if they win the tournament.

The Welsh actor’s rousing pre-tournament pep talks for the Wales men’s national soccer team have gone viral on social media for the second time in as many weeks as the team prepares for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where they will face England, Iran, and the United States in the group stages.

The star of Good Omens, while on the British game show A League Of Their Own two weeks ago, seemingly improvised a speech that would send shivers down the spines of Welsh fans, drawing on myth, legend, national identity, and more.

“A victory song that floats through the valleys, like a red mist, rolls over the mountain tops, like crimson thunder,” Sheen roared in the first speech as he left the studio audience and panel guests stunned. “A red storm is coming to the gates of Qatar!”

Video clips of the actor’s inspirational speech, which would have fit in at home in a Hollywood sports movie, went viral, prompting Wales team manager Rob Page to invite the actor to address the team in person.

As promised, Sheen delivered, and on Monday, the new speech’s video clip began to similarly trend on social media.

“Close your eyes and feel the breath on the back of your necks. Because that’s every man, woman, and child in this old land standing there with you at your backs. That’s the people of Wales, your people,” Sheen says in the new speech. “Feel their breath quickening with yours. Hear their blood drumming in your ears, pounding through your heart, bursting through your chest. That’s the blood of Wales, your blood, red as the ancient book of dreams. Red as the rising flag of Merthyr. Red as the great wall of Gwalia. Because that’s what you carry with you, boys.”

The next part of his statement goes as follows: “Across 64 years, across half the span of the world. It’s there, on your chest. It’s there, at your back. It’s there, at your side. They always say we are too small, too, slow, too weak, too full of fear, but yma o hyd, you sons of Speed! With that red wall around us, we are still here!”