Wales captain Gary Speed has issued a World Cup rallying call by claiming: "We can qualify for the finals."

The Newcastle midfielder watched Wales drawn against England in World Cup 2006 qualifying Group Six, which also includes Northern Ireland in the race to reach Germany.

He said: "First of all we must take England out of this equation. Looking at the rest of the group, we have a great chance.

"There is nothing there to be frightened of, and if England do win it, why can't we be runners-up? The rest of the teams are well within us.

"We have just achieved second place in a Euro 2004 group and we would certainly settle for that again in this World Cup qualifier.

"And when it comes to facing England, they will not fancy coming to Cardiff where we can beat anybody with our full team out. Just ask Italy.

"Those two games will be real tough British matches, anything can happen and they will be very much one-off occasions."

Speed added: " We have just beaten Azerbaijan twice and we produced a really great defensive display in Poland a few years back and were unlucky to lose the return.

"As for Austria, we certainly have no reason to fear them either."

Wales boss Mark Hughes was linked with a move into Premiership management but Speed insists his decision to stay on with his country has been vindicated by the draw.

He said: "This is just up Mark's street. He will love this group and love the chance to play England.

"Obviously we are all delighted he decided to carry on, and this draw is just the incentive he would have been looking for to justify his decision."

One down side for Wales is Ryan Giggs' disciplinary problems, with UEFA banning the Manchester United winger for two matches after he elbowed Russia's Vadim Evseev last month.

Wales have until midnight on Monday to lodge an appeal, and they are likely to gauge the dates and opponents of the opening qualifiers before making a decision.

Hughes said: "We have until Monday to make a decision about whether we appeal. "Looking at the wording of the decision, they appear to accept very little, if any, contact was made and he seems to have been punished for intent.

"The worry is that if you do appeal and it goes against you the punishment may be increased so we have to weigh that into the equation."