CAPTAIN Ashley Williams says Wales have the team spirit to match anyone after beating the team ranked second in the world.
Williams and his fellow defenders held firm and ensured Wales held on to the lead given to them by Gareth Bale after 25 minutes to beat Belgium 1-0 at the Cardiff City Stadium on Friday night.
The win puts Chris Coleman’s men within touching distance of qualifying for a major tournament for the first time since 1958.
And Williams is certain that if this group of players continue to perform as they have done in this campaign then they will be at Euro 2016 in France this time next year.
“I think we’ve realised that we’re actually a good team and we’re all willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to get to the tournament,” said the Swansea City star.
“I’m going to miss the guys now because we’re all friends and the way we put everything on the line for each other is probably the difference.
“We feel that our team spirit is a match for anyone. I’ve never seen it in an international team before where it feels like a club.
“We were all cramping up out there and putting our bodies on the line but we feel that the cause is greater than the pain at the minute.
“We like to think that we can keep a clean sheet against anyone in the world,” he added.
“There was a lot of talk about their attacking threat and the threat is obvious but if we get a goal up we like to think we can keep anyone out.”
The whole of Wales may still be on a high after the nation’s best victory since overcoming Italy in 2002 but Williams says the players know that the job is not yet done.
And, having experienced plenty of false dawns in the past, he wants to wrap up qualification at the earliest opportunity.
“The job isn’t done and we can relax a little bit when and if we get it done,” said the skipper.
“At the minute we’ve put ourselves in a great position to qualify.
“We’re in a position now to concentrate on ourselves and if we get the job done it doesn’t matter what anyone else does.
“This was the biggest game I’ve ever seen for Wales and you could tell by the atmosphere in the stadium,” he added.
“We knew this was a big moment for us. It’s given us a lot of belief and we know that if we keep that work rate up we’re a match for anyone.
“The desire, the focus and drive that we’ve shown is what we need to keep up.
“Let’s not think that we’ve done it because we haven’t; there’s four more games to play and points up for grabs.
“I think it’s important that we get it done as soon as possible – we need to make sure of it instead of leaving it to the last few games and to chance.”
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