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The Dragon Awoken!

As Wales stand on the brink of making it to their first major tournament since the FIFA World Cup in 1958, Andy Greeves talks to their defender Chris Gunter about his country's memorable qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 2016.

2 October, 2015

Five wins and three draws in Wales' opening eight UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group B matches leaves them just a point short of guaranteeing their place in France next summer. A trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 10 is followed by the visit of minnows Andorra three days later. After decades of heartbreak for the Dragons, surely this is their time.

Wales' long standing tale of woe is well known, not least to regular readers of Soccerphile.com. The likes of John Charles and Cliff Jones were amongst the last generation of players to experience a major tournament with their country, as they reached the quarter final of the FIFA World Cup in 1958. Since then, Welsh greats such as John Toshack, Neville Southall, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes and Ryan Giggs have been part of teams that have tried and failed to make it to the World Cup or the European Championships.

Israel

The latest Welsh Wizard Gareth Bale looks set to buck that trend of spurned opportunities though. The odds of qualification for UEFA Euro 2016 are firmly stacked in the current crop's favour.

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'We've waited so long as a nation to achieve qualification for a tournament and even in the years I've been involved with the squad there have been some big ups and downs,' reflects Reading defender Chris Gunter, who has featured in all eight of Wales' matches in this qualification campaign so far. 'While you can ever take your focus away, I think it's important to enjoy what we've experienced over the last 12 months or so. This campaign has obviously been special.'

When Wales went 1-0 down to Andorra in their opening group match on September 9, 2014, who would have thought then that Chris Coleman's men would go on to be in the position they are today.

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'It was a tough game, with a difficult pitch but thankfully two goals from Gareth Bale rescued us,' says Gunter, looking back on their trip to Andorra. 'You'd have to say that was the biggest result we've had in the group to date because that was the foundation for where we find ourselves today. If we'd won that match 10-0 or 1-0 we'd have only ever got three points and that was the message from Chris Coleman after. It was all about getting the job done, getting the win we required and the score line really wasn't important.'

Wales took four points from six as they hosted Bosnia and Herzegovina (0-0) and then Cyprus (2-1) in Cardiff in the space of three days in October 2014. A month later, another goalless draw - this time away at Belgium, who were ranked the second best international team in the world at the time - made everyone stand up and take notice of Chris Coleman's men.

'We took a lot of fans to Brussels and I think after that match you could sense a feeling amongst them that they had real belief in what we are doing and that we could have a really good campaign,' comments Gunter on the November 16, 2014 match.

On March 28 this year, Wales travelled to Israel, where an Aaron Ramsey goal and a brace from Gareth Bale gave the visitors a 3-0 triumph. Then followed a never to be forgotten evening in Cardiff on June 12 as they beat Belgium 1-0 with Bale on target again.

'There was a big build-up for the game as you'd expect, with the two top teams in the group going head-to-head,' remembers Gunter. 'With it being a Friday night game, played in the summer with a packed crowd and with the atmosphere there was, there was a very special feel in the air. You rarely get those kind of occasions in football and the kind of feeling we had that night is hard to recreate.

'It was strange for players like me, that play our football outside the Premier League, that we'd finished our club football quite a number of weeks earlier but then you had this massive game. We were well prepared though and raring to go as a group. The win was one of the most significant achieved by a Welsh team for some time, without any shadow of a doubt. It put us in a fantastic position. We had taken four points off Belgium and kept two clean sheets against them, which was no mean feat in itself.'

A 1-0 victory in Cyprus on September 3 left Wales knowing a win at home to Israel three days later would be good enough to confirm their place at UEFA Euro 2016. The visitors arrived intent on getting a point though and managed just that in a stalemate at the Cardiff City Stadium.

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'Israel came, sat-in and made it difficult for us to break them down,' says Gunter, who has won 61 caps for Wales to date.' I think we were surprised by Israel. They are a really good technical team, but made it pretty clear from the start that they were happy to set-up for the draw. I don't think we were ever in danger of losing the game, but it was a case of could we get the goal.

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'We've have loved the win against Israel to confirm out place in France in front of our home crowd. That said, I think we would have taken four points from six if you'd offered us them ahead of the game in Cyprus and at home to Israel. It's now set-up for the next two matches (against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Andorra) and we know exactly what we need to do. We have put ourselves in an unbelievable position. If, and hopefully when, we qualify it will be something really huge to look back on with great pride for years to come.'

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