Coleman tells Wales to 'embrace the pressure'

Undefeated at the Group B summit, Wales travel to Nicosia to take on Cyprus on Thursday and then host Israel three days later – meaning that by next week they could have qualified for their first major tournament since the 1958 FIFA World Cup. "Too far ahead is looking at Israel, never mind looking at France," manager Chris Coleman told UEFA.com. "The only game we're focusing on now is Cyprus. As soon as that's finished, we will start looking at Israel. All our thoughts, all our concentration at the moment are on Cyprus, simple as that."

Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale is his country's undoubted talisman – he has scored five goals in six UEFA EURO 2016 qualifiers – yet Coleman prefers to underline the collective effort. "All the players have got different attributes, different strengths, but as a group of people they have been fantastic," he said. "They've got to keep doing what they've been doing, and really it never, never, never stops. You have to have that same mentality if we're going to be a consistent nation. This is very much the beginning."

Another sell-out crowd is expected in the Welsh capital for Sunday's visit of Israel. "We've had to earn that," Coleman, 45, added. "We've had to work hard to earn the trust again from the Welsh public and in turn they've performed for us, they've been unbelievable. It's about continuing that relationship. I think the biggest thing from our public is that they see a group of people for whom representing their country means everything."

It is not only the fans who have sat up to take notice, with media interest in Coleman and his team heightening by the day. "I don't play it down because I think for a long time we have wanted this type of pressure," said the boss. "This type of pressure means you're doing something right and it means you're playing must-win games. It means every time we play we're not in our comfort zone and we're always looking for another big performance. I tell the players to embrace it."

Coleman, formerly manager of Fulham, Real Sociedad, Coventry City and Larissa, continued: "My team talk before we kicked a ball against Andorra [in our opening qualifier] was that we can qualify for this tournament. Even when we were in France for the draw, I wasn't worried because I've got a lot of confidence in this group. I'm on the inside and I know how good they are. They're a credit to work with, they're a great bunch of people. I won't have to remind them that we haven't done anything yet. They'll know that, and they'll know there's big performances to be had yet."