Wales ready to party after 64 years out in the cold

DOHA : As Wales prepare to make their World Cup return, a party atmosphere is brewing that was 64 years in the making as Welsh fans get ready to leave behind decades of footballing bad luck, near misses and agonising disappointment.

On Monday, for the first time since 1958, the side led by Rob Page will play in the World Cup finals when they face the United States in Al Rayyan.

For the scores of Welsh fans arriving in Doha, wearing the now distinctive "bucket" hats, the match will be a celebration few will have experienced in their lifetime.

Yet the impact of the fixture on Wales stretches beyond the confines of the pitch, a chance to forget decades of disappointment and look towards the future, with the country's First Minister Mark Drakeford in Qatar to mark the occasion.

"Small nations have to shout very loud to get themselves heard in a global world," Drakeford told Reuters.

"There will be 5 billion homes where the World Cup will be seen in people's living rooms. Many of those will never have heard of Wales. So it's an enormous opportunity."

For a sport-loving country like Wales, where as Drakeford explains "if two flies are climbing up a wall and one of them was Welsh, people in Wales would be there supporting it", the years of missing out on the World Cup were a succession of gut punches.

Until this year, Wales's history in World Cup qualification would have given the finest Greek tragedies a run for their money as an improbable catalogue of woe.

From their failure to beat Scotland in a winner-takes all clash in the lead-up to Mexico '86 to Paul Bodin's penalty, lifted onto the bar by vengeful gods, that robbed them of a spot at USA 1994, Wales have endured more than they have enjoyed the quadrennial World Cup