SUCH is the attention lavished on Gareth Bale it can be all too easy to overlook the contribution of his Wales teammates to a Euro 2016 qualification effort that could end 58 years of heartache within the next seven days.
Wins over Cyprus in Nicosia on Thursday and Israel in Cardiff on Sunday will be enough to make this Welsh squad the first to make the finals of a major tournament since such great players as John Charles, Cliff Jones and Terry Medwin reached the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup.
Chris Coleman’s men top Group B after their memorable June win over Belgium, and are set to climb above England for the first time when the next Fifa world rankings are announced next month.
Real Madrid star Bale, 26, has scored five goals in six qualifiers, but he has been backed up by a midfield inspired by Aaron Ramsey and underpinned by the astute play of Joe Allen and Joe Ledley.
Perhaps of even more significance has been a vastly improved defensive effort. Wales have conceded just two goals in this campaign, with captain Ashley Williams typically leading by example.
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The Swansea defender was once booed by sections of the Wales support when he skippered the national side in Cardiff, but he has silenced them since.
The 31-year-old’s rise from his release by West Brom as a teenager has defied all odds, as with each climb up the ladder he has adapted his game and is now one of most consistent centre-backs in the Premier League.
As the transfer window draws to a close Williams, who signed a new three-year extension at Swansea last summer, continues to be linked with Everton as a possible replacement for Chelsea target John Stones.
But Coleman believes Williams is capable of better, of playing for a Premier League title contender such as Manchester United, who he faces today for Swansea, or Chelsea, and is astonished his talents are ignored by the top-flight giants.
“Certain players get overlooked,” said Coleman. “I see some teams signing centre-backs for a lot of money and I think ‘how has that happened?’.
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“That is because I have seen Ash do it week in, week out for club and country and he is one of the best in the Premier League, one of the best leagues in the world. He has been a great player and a great leader for me.
“He could play for any team in the Premier League. He could play for one of the top four. John Stones is a great player but all I know is what I have seen with Ash and he is a top player.
“If Everton are looking at him, with Ash I would wonder whether Everton are going to finish above Swansea. I know Everton are a great club with a great history but Swansea are strong at the moment.”
While qualification is within touching distance, long-suffering Wales fans are too familiar with the feeling of defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory to regard a place in France as a sure thing.
The pain of defeats to Romania in 1993 and Russia a decade later still linger, but Coleman, involved in those doomed efforts to reach USA 1994 and Euro 2004, senses a different mentality in this squad.
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“From the start I believed we could qualify, and I believe that will happen,” he said.
“People almost forget that we were 1-0 down in Andorra on a horrendous pitch in our opening game.
“That is a situation where you find people out. It could go either way, and that is when you find out about character and mentality.
“This was the first game in Andorra and we were losing at half-time. I could detect the players were going to come away with three points no matter what it would take. It kick-started the campaign and it was a collective thing.”