V COLEMAN: GO MENTAL
SERBIA WALES Underfire coach tells his Dr agons to re-focus & play like they did at Eur os
CHRIS COLEMAN has urged Wales to rediscover their “mental sharpness” if they want to play more tournament football.
Coleman’s men face a tough trip to Group D leaders Serbia tonight without their suspended superstar Gareth Bale.
Four successive draws have left the Dragons’ hopes of reaching the 2018 World Cup in Russia hanging in the balance.
And boss Coleman says Wales must use memories of reaching Euro 2016’s semi-finals as both inspiration and a benchmark to rediscover their killer instinct.
He said: “A little bit of focus at the right times in games, mental sharpness, that’s what we’ve got to get back.
“I don’t think we’re that far away from when it all clicks together, and then we’ve got it back and we’re doing it again.
“I’m not panicking because I think we’ve got enough to just touch those right buttons again.
“We are not far away from getting back to where we need to be to sample that whole big tournament experience again.
“It’s got to be worth it. We all witnessed it. It was absolutely amazing and that’s why it’s so hard to get to these finals.
“It’s such a fantastic place to be, but you have to go above and beyond to earn it. And if we want to sample tournament football again, th then we need to take care of bu business now.
“Hopefully, we’ll have that fo focus, so if we’re in the lead we can hang on to it and see it out because that’s what has be been missing.” Today’s clash in Belgrade is exactly a year to the day from Wales’ opening 2- 1 Euros win over Slovakia in France.
It was the start of a historic summer for Welsh football at the nation’s first major finals since 1958.
Coleman has since been trying to get his players to look forward to the next big challenge, but admits it has been tough.
He added: “We have tried desperately hard to move on, but you also don’t really want to.
“I still remember Slovakia as the lads came in from the warmup and I could see there was a bit of surprise in their faces.
“I heard some of my staff say: ‘This is like playing in Cardiff, there are Taffs everywhere.’
“Where we stood in the dugout and when the national anthem started, that’s what I’ll always remember.
Noise
“The noise, wow, that was unbelievable. That’s what I remember. I remember the goals, but first tournament, first game, singing the national anthem – that was as good as it gets.”
Defeat today would leave Wales seven points off automatic qualification with four games left — and if second-placed Ireland beat Austria, even a play-off spot may be beyond them.
Coleman admitted that dealing with raised expectations this time has been difficult.
He said: “It is higher for a reason – because we produced.
“If we dig out the result in Serbia it’s definitely back on.
“Or then the next game at home to Austria in September we absolutely have to win it. We know that. And if we do it’s back on, but second spot.”