Wales may be appearing in the World Cup finals for the first time in 64 years but they are not just in Qatar to make up the numbers.
Their last appearance in a global tournament saw them succumb to a goal by the 17-year-old Pele for the eventual champions Brazil in a quarter-final tie in Gothenburg. But having been to the last two European Championships, Wales boast the proud record of having always got out of their group at major finals – a record of which Scotland can only dream.
While there has been a lingering regret that John Charles, the Welsh superstar of the 1950s, was kicked out of the tournament before getting the chance to face Brazil, the international stage has been kinder to their modern-day talisman Gareth Bale.
Wales’ best chance of progress hinges on a 33-year-old with a string of injury worries who has been used sparingly since arriving at Los Angeles FC in the summer before his pivotal role in this month’s MLS Cup triumph.
And yet Bale always seems to peak when it matters most to Wales, not least with the winner over Ukraine – courtesy of a deflection off the unlucky Andriy Yarmolenko – to book a place in Qatar back in June.
Bale has always seemed far happier with the almost club-like spirit of the Welsh camp than he did with the Real Madrid galacticos and several of his big pals from the incredible run to the Euro 2016 semi-finals are also still around – Aaron Ramsey, Joe Allen, Ben Davies, Wayne Hennessey, Jonny Williams and Chris Gunter.
But Rob Page, who inadvertently became Wales temporary then permanent manager due to Ryan Giggs’ court case, has also successfully integrated plenty of youthful talent that should make Wales a threat on the counter-attack, with wing-backs Connor Roberts and Neco Williams given licence to bomb forward and Dan James and Brennan Johnson also likely to play prominent roles.
Page, from the former mining village of Tylorstown – near to where 1958 World Cup manager Jimmy Murphy was born – already has the experience of having got Wales through their group at last year’s Euros before a 4-0 loss to Denmark in the last 16.
And he landed a four-year contract in September having led Wales to second in a group featuring Belgium and the Czech Republic – losing just once to the Red Devils – which was no mean achievement, before seeing off Austria and Ukraine in the play-offs.
They may be the smallest nation at the World Cup apart from hosts Qatar, with a population of 3.1million, but Wales have no intention of packing up their bucket hats after their final group game against England.
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