Rob Page believes Wales have come “a long way” since the retirement of Gareth Bale to be within one win of reaching Euro 2024.
Wales host Poland in a play-off final at Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday, with a place in Germany this summer at stake.
Victory would see Wales play at a third successive European Championship and a fourth major tournament out of five after qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.
But this time Wales would achieve qualification without talismanic former captain Bale, their record caps holder and goalscorer who retired a few months before the start of Euro 2024 qualifying in January 2023.
“Look back to the semi-final and final before the World Cup and Gareth scored the three goals,” said boss Page, recalling Bale’s brilliance in the play-offs that guided Wales to Qatar.
“We had one of the world’s best footballers and it shows how far we’ve come in a short space of time.
“We are only one tournament past Gareth’s retirement and one win away from qualifying.
“We’re a country where, if we can be there or thereabouts at the end of the campaign to qualify, while we’re still in this transition of introducing young players without some of the world-class senior players we’ve had, then we’re in a good place.
“That’s where we are at this time and it’s quite a significant move. It shows the strength in depth and quality we’ve got coming through.”
Defender Ben Davies and goalkeeper Danny Ward will start against Poland and remain from Euro 2016, when Wales reached the semi-finals at their first major tournament since the 1958 World Cup.
Aaron Ramsey and Wayne Hennessey, two more Euro 2016 survivors, will be on the bench, but Page, who took the reins from Ryan Giggs in November 2020, has focused on introducing younger players over the past year or so.
Ethan Ampadu, 23, and 19-year-old Jordan James form the central midfield axis, while the likes of Brennan Johnson, Daniel James and Neco Williams also provide pace and energy.
“We’re in a healthier position with regards to the age and the legs we’ve got on the pitch,” said Page.
“Did the gap between the semi-final and final (March to June) pre-World Cup play-offs help us? Absolutely.
“Having younger legs doesn’t guarantee positive results, but it gives you the best opportunity.
“Athleticism was one of the biggest things we took from the World Cup. Seeing some of the teams – Canada, Morocco, the USA – their midfield three was athletic.”
Poland booked their final spot with a 5-1 thrashing of Estonia in Warsaw when the unfancied visitors were hampered by an early red card.
The only surprise was that Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski failed to add to his tally of 82 international goals.
Poland often laboured in Euro 2024 qualifying, losing three of their eight games and finishing third behind Albania and the Czech Republic.
Page said: “We know they’ve got an abundance of quality. They’ve got a new manager (Michal Probierz) and they’ve had some positive results since.
“But they’re in the play-offs for a reason. They would have been favourites to qualify and we’ll take note of that.”
Penalties will determine the winner if the contest is not settled after 120 minutes and Page said his squad had practised taking spot-kicks.
He said: “We’d be stupid not to, we’d be ignorant to ignore that.
“We’ve done some work on it, of course, but it doesn’t take away our confidence to get a positive result.”
Dortmund got 'fully deserved victory' over Freiburg, says Sahin
Nuri Sahin praised Borussia Dortmund for getting "a fully deserved victory" over nine-man Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Dortmund remained perfect on home soil this season as they cruised to a 4-0 win at Signal Iduna Park after Patrick Osterhage and Junior Adamu were both sent off for the visitors.
Maximilian Bieier and Felix Nmecha scored in the first half before Julian Brandt and Jamie Gittens secured the points in the second during a dominant display as they limited Freiburg to just three shots on target at the other end.
Dortmund have now won 11 home games in a row in all competitions. Since the Bundesliga was founded, they have won more consecutive home matches in a row only once, winning 14 in a row at home in 1994.
Sahin has come under pressure recently for the Black and Yellow's less impressive away form, but he was delighted with the showing he saw from his side.
"We started very well. We controlled the spaces. We allowed very little," Sahin said.
"Overall, it was a mature performance from my boys. We scored great goals, showed good energy.
"We kept them away from our goal throughout. It was a fully deserved victory and I, as a coach, am very satisfied."
Dortmund were, however, without Serhou Guirassy, who is their top scorer in the Bundesliga with six goals, as he pulled out of the game due to a virus.
Next up for Sahin's side is a trip to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League, and the head coach is hopeful he will be available for that tie.
"[Saturday] morning again, we got the bad news. Serhou tried everything to play today, but it did not work," Sahin added.
"I hope it will be enough for Zagreb. He is a very important player for us."
Rodgers enjoying 'exciting period' as Celtic open gap at top of Scottish Premiership
Brendan Rodgers says it is an "exciting period" for Celtic as they moved three points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a 4-1 win over Hearts.
Celtic made a sluggish start to the match and were lucky not to find themselves behind at the break as Blair Spittal and Lawrence Shankland spurned glorious chances for Hearts.
However, they came out revitalised in the second half as Kyogo Furuhashi and Nicolas Kuhn scored twice in five minutes to put them 2-0 up on the hour mark.
Adam Idah scored twice, netting on either side of Musa Drammeh's consolation, with his second coming from the penalty spot in the 94th minute.
Celtic have now won all seven of their away league games this season by an aggregate score of 22-2.
After Aberdeen's first loss of the season earlier on Saturday, Celtic gave themselves some breathing space at the top of the league, while also moving 11 points clear of rivals Rangers, who sit third.
Rodgers was delighted with Celtic's response to the first half, praising the players' adaptation.
"I'm really pleased. Tynecastle is a really tough place so to win 4-1 was really pleasing," Rodgers said.
"Second half, we figured out their press. They have normally been pressing in 4-4-2 but changed it slightly. It just meant we had to drop a man in our build-up play.
"We had some good moments in the first half, but once we were able to play through that pressure, I thought in the second half we were excellent.
"It's a very exciting period for us. All the players know they will play, they just need to be ready."
Celta Vigo 2-2 Barcelona: Stunning late show denies 10-man Blaugrana
Celta Vigo scored two goals in two minutes late on to earn an entertaining 2-2 draw with Barcelona in LaLiga at the Estadio Abanca-Balaidos.
League leaders Barca appeared to be cruising towards victory when they opened up a two-goal lead thanks to captain Raphinha and leading goalscorer Robert Lewandowski.
Raphinha cut inside before tucking home for the opener 15 minutes in, then Lewandowski got his 15th league goal of the season with a simple finish in the 61st minute.
However, the script changed when Blaugrana midfielder Marc Casado was sent off after receiving his second yellow card in the 82nd minute.
With Barca down to 10 men, the home side piled on the pressure and it told in the 84th minute, substitute Alfonso Gonzalez converting following an error from Jules Kounde.
The comeback was complete two minutes later, with Hugo Alvarez drilling past Inaki Pena to deny Flick's visitors victory.
Despite the result, Barca top LaLiga with 34 points, five ahead of Atletico Madrid in second and seven ahead of third-placed Real Madrid, who have two games in hand.
Data Debrief: Blaugrana finally held
Going into Saturday's game, Barcelona had gone 24 matches without a draw in LaLiga, winning 20 and losing four.
When they entered the final six minutes with a two-goal advantage, it appeared certain they would match their longest streak without a draw in the competition's history, recorded between February and October 2017 (25 games, 23 wins and two draws).
However, Hansi Flick's side were stunned at the death as they dropped points for a second game in succession following a 1-0 loss at Real Sociedad prior to the international break.
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