

After making history last Wednesday by playing the first European semi-final in their history, Wales' road has just begun. Looking at the young talented squad they have, it's evident that their generation of players may reach new heights in the future. In order to keep getting successful days, they will need to keep manager Chris Coleman who has continued the hard work that John Benjamin Toshack started over a decade ago with many players from this same squad.
Now that they've passed that mental barrier, Coleman knows that the only way is to move forward and keep working hard to achieve great things. After the Portugal semis, he told the press that: "It's always been that - qualifying regularly. There was a psychological barrier we needed to go through for the first one, given it had been so long. We've now sampled tournament football, such an experience... such a healthy vibe from people of all nations. We want some more of that. We need some more of that.
"Now, the one thing that will stop us from doing it again is ourselves. We're good enough. We have to be hungry, we have to have the same hunger and desire, and we'll give the World Cup campaign a hell of a crack. It's a great experience, this tournament. It's been completely different to what we expected, a different challenge. You can't predict it unless you've already been through it for six or seven weeks: we faced all sorts of challenges as a squad and as a group, and we've come through them all up to this one.
"I've told them I'm proud of them, the nation's proud of them. Tomorrow they'll be proud of themselves. We know what we're good at. We won't change what got us here in the first place. We have to go into the next campaign with the same hunger and desire as we've had in the last two or three years. That's what I've told them. I'm prouder of this team than any team I've been involved in because I know what they've sacrificed to get to this stage. They couldn't give any more. I'm sure they'll go back to Cardiff to a nice welcome, and they deserve that."
Photo credit: Wales FA