The Wales manager Chris Coleman has one wish at the Euro 2016 draw – avoid England.
Having been placed in the bottom pot after ending a 58-year wait to play at a major tournament, Coleman accepts a tough task is heading Wales’s way whatever the outcome of the draw in Paris on Saturday evening.
But Coleman is keen to avoid an encounter with England, one of the top seeds, and all the hype that a battle of Britain would involve.
“Against anyone on our day, and we’ve proved it, we’re a good team and difficult to play against,” Coleman said after a qualification campaign in which Wales took four points from Belgium, the world’s best team according to the Fifa rankings.
“But, if I’m honest, I’d prefer it if we didn’t play England. That would be viewed as a battle of Britain and there would be a lot of things that go with it that could make it a distraction.
“We will play three games and we don’t want it to all be about one of them.”
Wales’s first qualification since the 1958 World Cup was largely achieved through defensive discipline and the attacking brilliance of Gareth Bale.
Only England, Romania and Spain conceded fewer goals in qualifying as captain Ashley Williams marshalled a defence which conceded only four times in 10 games.
At the other end the Real Madrid forward Bale was extraordinary, providing seven of Wales’s modest-11 goal tally, and his absence from Euro 2016 for any reason is simply unthinkable.
But the suspicion remains that Wales could be dangerous opponents in France; they can be hard to break down but are also capable of finding a vital goal.
“You have to go there with that ambition,” Bale said when asked about making an impact at Euro 2016. “We know we don’t concede too many and we can nick a goal against anybody, so there’s no reason we can’t.
“Obviously you might need a bit of luck along the way, but we’ll be going there trying to upset a few people.”
