A revolution of new, young talent is underway in Rob Page's Cymru squad ahead of the European Qualifiers that kick off for the Dragons in Croatia on Saturday.
Having qualified for Euro 2016, Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup, levels of expectation among the Welsh side are high going into the qualifying campaign for the next European Championship being hosted in Germany next summer.
The manager said "We’re now in a position where we believe we can (qualify). That’s the mindset of the players we’ve got, we’ve got some young, hungry players coming from Premier League clubs."
Cymru have a favourable draw, being pitted with Armenia, Croatia, Latvia and Turkiye.
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Playing Croatia
Saturday's hosts finished third at the last World Cup, beating Morocco in the third place playoff match in Qatar. They only lost twice in 2022, one of those defeats being in the semi final of the aforementioned tournament to Argentina.
The Vatreni have also qualified for the finals of the Nations League, topping a group that included Austria, Denmark and France and will compete for the newest domestic silverware in June.
On playing the Kockasti, Page said "They’re a force to be reckoned with, their home record is very good but not just that - recent months they’ve got third in the World Cup, they’ve given some great performances, arguably got the best midfield three in world football and we’ll have our work cut out."
He picked out the hosts' midfield trio of Luka Modrić, Marcelo Brozović and Mateo Kovaçić as being potentially the best in the game and has therefore adjusted his side's training suitably.
He added "We’re going to have to be at our best (playing against the midfield trio), we’ve planned for it all week and done a lot of work on the grass for those three.. it’s a great learning curve for the lads who are playing against them, but it’s about our performance. One thing I learnt from the World Cup and one thing I want to see is a continuity in our performances. We can’t guarantee a result tomorrow but we can guarantee a level of performance."
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Fury at Forest over Brennan Johnson
Brennan Johnson was set to star for Wales over the international break but was unable to report for international duty almost a week ago having picked up an injury whilst playing for Nottingham Forest on the Friday.
The Cymru gaffer suggested that there was prior knowledge of the injury, saying "We were aware of something last week then he went and played 90 minutes on the Friday and wasn’t able to meet up on the Sunday. First and foremost I feel for Brennan, he wants to play international football as does everyone else. As we know, playing for your country is very special and shouldn’t be taken for granted, by anyone."
Further speaking about Forest playing him on Friday, he added "Everybody who has got responsibility for Brennan should respect that and help in anyway they can. It’s frustrating, but we can’t grumble about it now and we’ve got to pick a team to play against a very good team."
"(Forest) know the ins and outs of how Brennan is better than I do, they work with him day in, day out. Ultimately it’s about the player, his welfare and him playing 90 minutes on Friday has put him out of contention for us and what they do for the rest of the week is out of my control"
And asked if he was annoyed at the Premier League outfit's handling of the situation, Page replied "Of course (I’m disappointed in the way Forest have handled it)… as far as I’m concerned he’s out of the camp completely. I think he’s arguably one of the best counter attacking centre forwards in the Premier League at the moment."
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A Wales with no Bale
Gareth Bale became synonymous with the red jersey, scoring countless free kicks to earn himself a place in Welsh football history but retired after the World Cup, his final game being a 3-0 defeat to neighbours England.
Like most Welsh football fans, Page has been thinking of both the positives and negatives of Bale's retirement and said "There’s swings and roundabouts… if you want to play a high pressing, tempo game - understandbly he’s of an age at the end - I got there when I couldn’t play at a certain intensity. No disrespect to him but if you want to play with that intensity then it’s probably not with him in the team. If you want those magical moments with him putting a free kick into the top corner that probably no one else in world football can do then you won’t get that… of course he’ll be missed but it’s an opportunity for younger players to step up now and take the jersey."
The manager's recurring theme has been a youth revolution. We've seen a so-called English golden generation go by without winning anything in the 2000s only for them to discover a new one as we speak, is the Welsh youth golden generation now on its way?
