Wales vs Russia Euro 2016 preview: Chris Coleman looking forward, not back, ahead of crunch Russia clash

Chris Coleman was looking forward on Sunday, beyond the crucial Euro 2016 tie against Russia, to the 2018 World Cup and beyond. A Wales win in the Stade Municipal on Monday will ensure their passage to the knock-out stage. A point should be enough. Even defeat might not send them home.

Coleman, though, was keen to stress “whether we progress or not this is not the end of the journey for this team, this team will go on and on.” He added: “There is more to come from these players in the future and we will take so much from this tournament. This group can’t lose, they have everything to look forward to. We are playing against the best in Europe. We have to be at our best physically, mentally, tactically. We are being tested to the limits and learning so much.”

These are the sort of comments a manager usually comes out with during the post-mortem after a team has been knocked out, a case of seeking the positives. But Coleman’s timing is calculated. His intention is to take the pressure off his players, who were clearly intimidated by the enormity of the occasion against England. Note the line ‘this group can’t lose’.

In many ways he is right. This is Wales’ first tournament for more than half a century, simply being here is an achievement with progress a bonus, not that players such as Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey would be content with a group stage exit.

Russia’s footballers, however, are under growing stress with their hosting of World Cup 2018 fast approaching, though Leonid Slutsky did his best to downplay the link. As has been evident in doping revelations in other sports, the current Russian government sees sport as a means of projecting Russian power abroad and stoking national pride at home. The pressure to impress at a home tournament will be overwhelming, but the current team looks leaden.

This is not new. Russia have not won in seven tournament matches, in which time they have lost to Greece, Belgium and Slovakia and drawn with Poland, Algeria, South Korea and England. Russia have twice as many footballers as the entire population of Wales but, apart from the false dawn of reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2008, finding 11 to make a winning team has long proved elusive.

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Like England before them they discovered to their cost that Fabio Capello was over-rated, over-paid and over the hill. Slutsky rescued qualification for France but has been hamstrung by the loss of key players, notably midfield creator Alan Dzagoev.

Coleman has a full hand to draw on, though Joe Ledley will not be 100 per cent fit yet. A lack of depth means an unchanged team is likely, though given how quickly the games come there is an argument for fresh legs in the shape of Andy King (if Ledley is unfit), Jonny Williams or Sam Vokes. Coleman is hoping for a much improved performance in possession - against England, Wales gave the ball away far too cheaply and Bale rarely got the chance to threaten in open play.

Slutsky said of Bale: “It is hard to man-mark superstars. Bale likes to roam in different areas so we will try and neutralise his threat zonally.”

He added: “Wales have two top players [Ramsey presumably the other]. Their attacking play is built on the interaction between those players, but they have a decent side beside that. They tend to play on the break, but matches so far in this group are very tight. Fine margins will decide the result.”

“Normally in June we would be playing friendlies against teams who had qualified,” added Coleman. “We were a bounce team, a team to practice against. Now we are at a tournament ourselves.” They will hope to retain that status until at least the weekend and, if they can get Bale on the ball more than they have managed so far, should do so.