Just for a moment let's glory in a memorable victory against Italy and enjoy all the positives. Top of the table after two games; a full house and a sudden rise up the FIFA rankings (at last!) combined with outstanding performances from almost every Welsh player on the pitch. Best of all for me was turning to my partner and saying 'we can't take much more of this', only to watch Bellamy waltz through for number two and then, just for once, spending 20 minutes praying along the lines of 'just for once…please!', before realising that 'just for once' the last 'tense' 20 minutes were probably our best spell. Thanks lads. Then again…

NO!

There were some very interesting aspects to my latest trip to Cardiff to view a Wales game. Perhaps the moment of triumph is precisely the point to reflect upon some issues that aren't going to go away?

SPEED THE PLOUGH

Out of position or not the fact remains that Gary Speed did not have a very good game in Cardiff. His distribution when under no pressure at all (particularly in the second half) was, to say the least, poor and will likely cost us dear at some crucial point in the near future. Delaney also looked vulnerable up until the point we took our final lead and were able to counter attack although I could forgive Savage for losing it for 20 minutes in the first half after the only other person to have a poor game, the referee, booked him. I'm sure you'll forgive my hypocrisy in conceding that Hartson was magnificent while Gabbidon and Davies further enhanced their reputation; however, a quick word of praise for the man who for many people (on reflection) held us together and turned the game. Mark Pembridge - come on down. 

THE MAN IN BLACK…

…made a terrific start in issuing a yellow early on for a deliberate Italian handball but then seemed to lose it for the best part of an hour until he made the one decision which most people watching the game on television might have thought was wrong ie. the decision to disallow the third goal. I was yards away from this one and the referee was spot on. As the Italian took our lad into touch with a delicate body- check there was an instant threat of a melee in reaction as more than one of our players (need I say who?) headed to the touchline for retribution. If the advantage had been played then frankly all hell would have been let loose and most eyes in the stadium were actually focused on the touchline rather than the play which apparently continued (I only saw the disallowed goal in the early hours of Thursday morning on TV). Anyway, can you imagine how many injuries we would have sustained if we had scored a third?!

THE PATRIOT GAME

Ah yes, this one could run and run. Did anyone note how the English media held Welsh fans up as a paragon of nationalistic virtue following the rousing versions of Delilah; Men of Harlech; the national anthem and the fact that there were no arrests at all? Am I alone in thinking that we shouldn't be fooled into an easy bout of England-bashing by the English media? Let's face it. The Manics are a Welsh group who have appropriated the identity of American musical forms; most of the crowd spoke and sang in English (Men of Harlech in English not Welsh) and perhaps the reason Bryn Terfel led us in the anthem and the words were up on the TV screens around the stadium was the quite realistic worry that otherwise the anthem would have been muttered around the stadium a damn sight quieter than Delilah! 

THE OVALTEENIES

Of course the biggest gamble of all may have been Mark Hughes pre-match comments with regard to the potential for the performance and the result to influence Welsh sport for a generation to come and maybe convert people from rugby to football. Hmmm. Imagine how embarrassing a 1-1 would have been? Now admittedly there is a clear incongruity in seeing the Union lot up at the Racecourse on a Friday night while the M Stadium is full of 74,000 football fans but anyone in Cardiff on the Wednesday night could not have failed to notice the muted atmosphere afterwards in comparison to say the evening after a rugby international. Maybe this is because the football team and their fans are now more used to winning than the rugby team but maybe it's just more to do with the relative regard with which each sport will be held in for some time to come? A win against Italy won't change that. Qualification for Portugal might.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Ah, the nub of the thing. We haven't qualified for anything yet and we will have a damn sight harder time in doing so than many people seem to think. First of all there are two very awkward games against Azerbaijan. I suspect these will be a lot closer and harder than we generally think not least because counter-attacking teams such as ourselves have a much harder time when they have to force themselves into a lead. Once they've got the lead then things often open up as the opposition seek an equaliser and the opportunity to counter attack arises (eg. England's' five goals against Germany) but first of all we have to break down a team likely to throw all bodies behind the ball at every opportunity. Then we have to deliver a result at home against Yugoslavia that is the equivalent of the Italy result. If we can do that and avoid defeat at home to Finland then, and only then, can we begin to dream.