Cymru Magic

There cannot have been many days when it was more pleasing to be a Welshman. Our rugby team won a World Cup quarter-final for the first time in 24 years (and deserve much attention, which will have to wait for now), while 12 hours before that our footballers were finally giving their fans reasons to be hopeful about the future. More important than that, they gave their fans reasons to be proud to be Welsh. For too long that hasn't been the case.

Like most Wales supporters I was highly sceptical about the appointment of Gary Speed as national team coach. His complete lack of experience of any kind of management was for me, the main reason not to give him the job. I couldn't see how a manager with experience which amounted to just a handful of games in charge of Sheffield United in the Championship could outwit the likes of Fabio Capello and Ottmar Hitzfeld in the Euro 2012 qualifiers. I still feel international management should be earned on the sidelines and not on the pitch. 

Past and present captains of Wales

Despite that, I now happily have reasons to believe the FAW weren't completely wrong in their decision making. The 2010 World Cup qualifiers were the most miserable for some time under John Toshack and when the draw was made for the European Championship preliminaries, being in a five team group we didn't even have the comfort of knowing points would come against the likes of San Marino or Liechtenstein.

Four games and four defeats in and Wales had dropped to 112th in the world and the performances against Ireland and Scotland in the Carling Nations Cup weren't a positive distraction. Being a small nation it is vital that our best players play together as much as possible and that can be seen in the performances in the last couple of months. However, keeping them together is difficult. Bale, Ramsey and Bellamy are a fearsome trio but all three are susceptible to injury. The wins against Montenegro in Cardiff and Switzerland in Swansea last night showed how important they are to our prospects in the future. Saying that, even without the suspended Bellamy we should have got a draw in England were it not for Rob Earnshaw's much-publicised miss.

Because of financial constraints and family resistance, I don't have Sky at home. Even if I did it would be unlikely that I'd have Sky Sports 3 anyway. So few people would have seen the game last night without going to a pub thanks to the FAW and the ever dastardly Sky. In any case, Ramsey and Bale got on the score sheet at the Liberty Stadium against a Switzerland side who were alone in beating Spain in South Africa last year. This result eliminated the Swiss from the competition and the frustration was evident in manager Hitzfeld's post-match interview. The website of the Geneva Tribune has the German complaining about the red card issued to Reto Ziegler, the penalty awarded to Wales and the Swiss goal that the assistant referee overruled. Switzerland will be disappointed to miss out on the playoffs but it does mean that they will have their best players available for the Olympic Games next summer which is cause for optimism: Switzerland's under 21s finished runners-up to Spain in the European Championships this summer. Like their francophone neighbour Belgium, there are many talented young players coming through. Switzerland are likely to be a threat in the next World Cup qualifiers.

Xherdan Shaqiri, Swiss starlet

As for Wales, the population of our country will always mean we lack strength in depth but I don't think this can be used as an excuse for failure. Small countries can and do punch above their weight. One example is the strange and sudden emergence of Armenia. They have a population almost identical to Wales and go to Dublin on Tuesday with a decent chance of a playoff place, something unthinkable in previous years. Wales' World Cup group, unfortunately assembled while we were 112th in the world, should be beyond our capabilities. Going to Serbia and Croatia will be difficult, as will a feisty Hampden Park in Glasgow. In particular I would really want to attend our game with Belgium to see the likes of Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku. Our other opponents are Macedonia, bizarrely coached by John Toshack. He could spring a nasty surprise.

In any case, while I don't expect us to qualify for Brazil 2014, and would in fact be happy with a 4th place finish come October 2013, I don't dread the start of our next campaign as I did this one. Whatever the result of our final game in Bulgaria on Tuesday, the tentative signs are that we'll be competitive against most other countries, we have players who are capable and a manager who is hungry for success. While that alone is not enough to represent Europe at a World Cup I'm starting to feel proud of the team that represents Wales in international football. And surely that's what matters most.