Wales to get open top bus welcome after Euro 2016

Wednesday’s match marked the first appearance by a British team at a semi-final of a major tournament since England at Euro 96, and victory would have made them the first home nation to reach a final since the 1966 World Cup. We mustn’t get carried away.

The parade is due to end at Cardiff City Stadium – Wales’ home ground – where over 30,000 people are expected to welcome the semi-finalists.

“I think we looked at the group and probably needed four points to progress and that was doable”.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) will host a special event in Cardiff for fans to celebrate the achievements of Chris Coleman’s side. We are in the middle of something, not the end. “We need that little bit of luck, the same hunger and desire and good things will happen”.

He said: “We fought hard in qualifying”.

“We knew what we were capable of after getting to France, we said we didn’t want to make the numbers up”. There seems a nasty stain on this tournament from England’s perspective, but this young group are better than how we are viewing them. We’ll take a lot of confidence.

“I spoke to the boss (West Ham’s Slaven Bilic), he’s a former worldwide player so he knows what this means to us”, the 32-year-old Collins said.

“But we never looked past the next challenge and the next game”.

Paying tribute to his team-mates, Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey said it was a pleasure to play in a side who “work their socks off for each other” and “play with freedom”.

Talking supporters through that famous Cruyff turn against Belgium, the impish Hal Robson-Kanu looked every inch a schoolboy as his eyes lit up when that famous goal was replayed on the big screen.

Speaking from the bus, star player Gareth Bale said: “It is an incredible feeling”.

Just as he was about to finish, fellow striker Sam Vokes interjected: “He’s done it in the playground”.