Wales’ Shaun MacDonald (L) and Gareth Bale during a training session yesterday. (Reuters)

AFP/Cardiff

Two national teams cresting historic waves collide in a pivotal 2016 European Championship qualifying match today when Group B front-runners Wales and Belgium meet at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Belgium, 4-3 winners against France in a friendly last Sunday, rose to a highest ever position of second in the most recent FIFA ranking, while Wales slipped one place to 22nd from their own highest ever ranking of 21st.
The two teams are level on 11 points at the halfway stage of the qualifying campaign, with Belgium top on goal difference, and Wales’s Aaron Ramsey believes that Friday’s match is his side’s most important in a decade.
“It’s probably the biggest game we’ve played in for Wales with this group of players,” said the Arsenal midfielder. “We are both top of the league at the moment and there’s a lot on this game.”
Belgium and Wales’ squads are at similar stages of their development, with both configured around a nucleus of players who progressed through their respective countries’ youth teams at roughly the same time. The average age of the Wales team that took to the field for their last game, an impressive 3-0 win away to Israel in March, was 26.18, while the average age of Belgium’s line-up against France was 25.63.
Both teams boast experienced Premier League defenders and rely on youthful, world-class talent in midfield and attack—Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard for Belgium, Gareth Bale and Ramsey for Wales. They are nonetheless worlds apart in the current pantheon of international football, with Belgium among the favourites to win Euro 2016 and Wales seeking to qualify for a first major tournament since the 1958 World Cup.
But Wales will draw encouragement from the fact their two most recent games against Belgium, both in Brussels, have ended in draws—last November’s reverse fixture and a World Cup qualifier in October 2013. “We don’t fear them,” added Ramsey. “If this group are all switched on together, we’ll give anyone a game.”

Draw ‘not dramatic’
Goals were a problem for Belgium at last year’s World Cup in Brazil, where they reached the quarter-finals, with all four of their victories coming by single-goal margins.
But they have shown a keener cutting edge in qualifying for Euro 2016, scoring 13 goals and conceding only one, while they led France 3-0 and 4-1 before a late rally by the hosts gave the scoreline a misleading sheen.
Coach Marc Wilmots has been strongly linked with the managerial vacancy at Schalke, but while the subject continues to obsess the Belgian sports media, he is relaxed ahead of the trip to south Wales.
“We don’t absolutely have to win on Friday,” he said. “A draw wouldn’t be dramatic as it’s the top two places in the group that are important. But we’ll obviously give everything to win.”
Belgium will be without suspended captain Vincent Kompany, whose place was taken by 19-year-old Celtic centre-back Nicolas Denayer against France.
De Bruyne (ankle) and Kevin Mirallas (illness) are both in line to return after missing the France game, but Marouane Fellaini, who scored twice in Saint-Denis, is a major doubt with a groin problem.
Wales are also diminished in defence, with James Collins and Ben Davies sidelined, but their absences are partially offset by the returns from injury of James Chester, Paul Dummett and Adam Matthews. “We know all the qualities of Wales,” added Wilmots, whose side, like their hosts, are unbeaten.
“They’ll play in a bloc on Friday and won’t leave us much space to express ourselves. It’s up to us to be patient if we want to impose our game.”

Iceland, Czechs in Reykjavik battle for top spot
Iceland could go top of Group A if they beat the Czech Republic in their Group A Euro 2016 qualification clash in Reykjavik today, but there is still some way to go if they are to make the finals of a major tournament for the first time.
With all six teams having played five games, Iceland are currently in second on 12 points, one behind the Czechs, with Netherlands and Turkey struggling on seven and five points respectively.
Iceland have beaten both Netherlands and Turkey at home in these qualifiers, but still have to visit their two under-performing group rivals.
But under Swedish coach Lars Lagerback Iceland fear no-one, even if they did slip up when they met the Czech Republic in Plzen in November, an own goal from Jon Dadi Bodvarsson proving decisive in a 2-1 win for the Czechs.
Lagerback’s dour yet effective game plan, built on organised defending, quick counter-attacks and punishing the opposition from set pieces, had Sweden fans calling for his head after nine years at the helm of his native country.
But in Iceland the 66-year-old is enormously popular—and he will be even more popular still if his side qualify for the finals in France. Winger Johann Berg Gudmundsson, who plays for English Championship side Charlton Athletic, has returned to his home town to face the Czechs, and the 24-year-old is in no doubt about what is at stake.
“It’s first place, and if we can manage it we will be in a very good position to get to France,” he told newspaper Morgunbladid. Czech coach Pavel Vrba, who took over the reins at the start of 2014 following their failure to reach last year’s World Cup in Brazil, will be missing striker David Lafata.
Lafata, top scorer in the Czech top flight this season, has been ruled out because of a knee injury suffered in training.
Vrba has called up debutant Milan Skoda of Slavia Praha, whose 19 league goals were one less than Lafata.
Vrba’s biggest task is probably finding a way to combat the set pieces, in particular the long throw-ins of Icelandic midfielder Aron Gunnarsson.
“Icelandic set plays are very dangerous, not only the throw-ins,” said midfielder Tomas Rosicky. “We should concentrate on that, because that is their strong weapon and they tend to be dangerous in their set plays in every game.”
Should the Czechs fail to deal with the danger, Icelandic fans could be celebrating long in to the bright summer night in Reykjavik.