Wales take deserved place amongst elite - and there could be more to come

The big screen inside Toulouse’s Stade Municipal zoomed in on a single Wales fan, face red and a bead of moisture running down it. It was a hot, muggy night in south-west France but Wales had not needed to sweat over anything; this was a tear, a spontaneous show of emotion that spoke of exactly what this victory meant and what their achievement, topping Group B ahead of England, signifies.

Nobody will forget Wales’ qualification for Euro 2016 but something else happened here. They were elevated, definitively, into Europe’s top 16 teams and if there was anyone left who doubted their place among the elite then those qualms have been dismissed now.

Ignoring the paucity of the opposition for a moment, it is hard to recall a more dynamic attacking performance in this tournament’s previous 26 matches; Wales were relentless, remorseless, from the first whistle to the last and it was an even more impressive display in the context of what could have been a shattering last-gasp defeat to England.

“As a nation we’re geographically small, but if you’re judging us on passion we’re a continent tonight,” said their manager Chris Coleman. That passion was present in the long, loud rendition of “Land of our fathers” with which the bright red mass behind Wayne Hennessey’s goal saw out the game; it was there, too, in the airings of “Please don’t take me home”, the song that has become their supporters’ theme tune in the last two weeks. But it had to feed off something and what they were treated to was special.

“This is the best I think,” Coleman said when asked to rate Wales’ showing among others in his four-year tenure. “You’re judged on results, of course, but the performance tonight was really pleasing. For a team to perform like that, to execute everything you’ve worked on at the training ground and take it onto the pitch, is immensely pleasing.”

Wales tore into Russia and the tone was set within a minute when Gareth Bale, trailed by a string of defenders, cracked a shot at Igor Akinfeev after jinking in from the right. Bale was rampant and exposed the creaking Russian centre backs – whose composition changed at half-time when Vasily Berezutsky was replaced by his twin brother Aleksey on their birthday – throughout. Aaron Ramsey, named man of the match, opened the scoring with a well-taken dink and slipped Bale through for a cool finish of his own. Joe Allen harried and prompted, and the most impressive aspect of Wales’ display was that their tempo, on and off the ball, never abated.

The very fact of Taylor’s goal spoke volumes. He was completely unmarked when a ricochet off Roman Shirokov fell his way and, at the second attempt, scored for the first time since a 2-0 win for Wrexham at Grays back in 2010. That was in England’s fifth tier and his rise is an apt metaphor for how far Wales have come.

“In my wildest dreams I’d never have thought ‘Tayls’ was getting one of the goals if we were getting some,” Coleman said. But it was that kind of night; one that flickered and crackled with the promise of something unique.

Nobody can detract from Wales’ progress but it must be set in another context, too. Russia were abject. There has been no weaker team in France this summer and it seems a trick of the light that only nine days ago they were celebrating an improbable late draw with England. Their coach, Leonid Slutsky, effectively resigned afterwards.

“After a tournament like this you need someone else in charge,” he said, and Russia’s campaign seemed ill-starred from the beginning. Losing key players Alan Dzagoev and Igor Denisov before it began hardly helped but you wonder, too, how much effect the violence perpetrated by a minority of their supporters in Marseille – and the subsequent threat of extinction – might have affected some of the team.

Whatever the truth, Russia were limp and spineless here, unable to pursue the win they needed with any conviction. They will not be missed in the knock-out stage and as soon as Wales’ players, Bale in particular, realised that they would not be chased too hard it was easy to run through the gears.

Wales head to Paris now, with Albania among their possible opponents and an all-British clash with Northern Ireland not out of the question. It is intriguing to wonder how far they can go; to ask exactly how much influence Bale can exert if a top team was to await in the last eight and to ponder whether Ramsey can produce another match of such sustained excellence. “We’ll never look past the next game because we can’t afford to do that,” Coleman said. “Unless we’re at our maximum we won’t get results, but if we do that in and out of possession we always have a chance.”

For now all these concerns can wait, and perhaps it is worth craning the mind back 649 days to appreciate the scale of what Wales have done. Back then, with 3,150 fans watching in tiny Andorra la Vella, Coleman’s team needed a late Bale free-kick to beat the home nation, second-bottom of UEFA’s coefficient list, in their first Euro 2016 qualifier.

Coleman was jeered when the players filed down the tunnel half-time that night; now he has produced something that will never be forgotten and there may yet be more tears of joy to come.