Rob Page proud of Wales’ progress after Gareth Bale’s exit

Wales host Poland in a play-off final at Cardiff City Stadium tonight, with a place in Germany this summer at stake.

Victory would see Wales play at a third successive European Championship and a fourth major tournament out of five after qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.

But this time Wales would achieve qualification without talismanic former captain Bale, their record caps holder and goalscorer who retired a few months before the start of Euro 2024 qualifying in January 2023.

“Look back to the semi-final and final before the World Cup and Gareth scored the three goals,” said boss Page, recalling Bale’s brilliance in the play-offs that guided Wales to Qatar.

“We had one of the world’s best footballers and it shows how far we’ve come in a short space of time.

“We are only one tournament past Gareth’s retirement and one win away from qualifying.

“We’re a country where, if we can be there or thereabouts at the end of the campaign to qualify, while we’re still in this transition of introducing young players without some of the world-class senior players we’ve had, then we’re in a good place.

“That’s where we are at this time and it’s quite a significant move. It shows the strength in depth and quality we’ve got coming through.”

Scott McTominay insists it is “not all doom and gloom” as Scotland look to end a six-game winless run when they face Northern Ireland at Hampden Park tonight.

Steve Clarke’s squad are still smarting from the 4-0 friendly defeat against Netherlands in Amsterdam on Friday night, the first of four warm-up games ahead of this summer’s European Championship in Germany.

McTominay said: “It is not necessarily a bad thing.

“The 4-0 result was a little bit of an injustice.

“You can get complacent, too excited, ahead of yourself if you take your foot off the gas and sometimes a little kick in the teeth isn’t the worst thing in the world, to get everyone back to the standards that we know that we are accountable for.”

Meanwhile, Michael O’Neill says Scotland are “very much the bar” for his Northern Ireland side as he recounted the development of Steve Clarke’s squad.

“I was always aware that Scotland was a team that was going to grow,” said O’Neill.

“They have had consistent form for a number of years.

“They are very much the bar for us.