Rob Page believes Wales are in a better position now than they were when they reached the 2022 World Cup, as they prepare for Tuesday’s Euro 2024 qualification showdown with Poland.
Wales thrashed Finland 4-1 on Thursday to advance to the final of play-off path A, where they will meet Poland following their 5-1 rout of Estonia.
Page’s team are looking to qualify for a third straight major tournament after reaching Euro 2020 and the Qatar World Cup under him.
They needed a play-off to reach that latter tournament, overcoming Austria 2-1 in a March 2022 semi-final then beating Ukraine 1-0 in the final after a three-month layoff.
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Looking ahead to the Poland game after Thursday’s win, Page said: “We are in a healthy position because we’ve got everybody playing.
“The gap in the World Cup play-offs suited us because we had senior players who weren’t playing club football, in Aaron [Ramsey] and in Gareth [Bale].
“That gap helped us. If it had been four or five days later, we might have struggled a bit.
“Now we’re in a different position because we’ve got a younger squad, a fitter squad, we’ve got players who are playing regularly.”
⏰ FT | 🏴 4-1 🇫🇮
Ffantastig bois! 👏
💻 https://t.co/vM2JY50OFH#TogetherStronger pic.twitter.com/MeDpHdBPNh
— Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) March 21, 2024
While Wales will have home advantage for Tuesday’s game, Page knows Robert Lewandowski and company will provide a major threat, with Poland having reached the last four editions of the Euros.
“The message is that this is half-time. We’ve now got a massive effort to go on Tuesday and we can’t wait,” he said.
“Poland will be a tough game and we respect what they’re all about. However, we know if we bring our A-game, the result will take care of itself.
“We’ve been there and done it, we know what we have to do, it doesn’t faze us. We’ve had a taste of major tournaments and we quite like it.”