By David Williams
Aaron Ramsey aims to replicate his greatest night in a Wales shirt when he faces Belgium on Tuesday evening – and put Wales a step closer to the World Cup finals.
The Juventus midfielder says the Euro 2016 3-1 victory over the Belgians was “up there” alongside any of his 70 caps earned for his county.
But Ramsey’s focus will be on the prospect of creating even greater memories if Wales can get the point they require to secure runners-up spot in their qualifying group at the Cardiff City Stadium.
A win or draw would give them a likely home tie in the World Cup play-off semi-finals next March and Ramsey says: “We have had some good battles with Belgium over the years.
“The quarter-final against them in 2016 was up there with anything I’ve experienced with Wales and we’ve had other battles with them and some great games.
“We know if we can play to our capability, then we have the players who can hurt Belgium. But it will be a different approach to the Belarus game.
“Belgium have strength all over the park. They may be a missing a few players, but the ones they pick will still be more than capable and the way they play will not change.
“We have to be right on our game and pick and choose the right moment when we take risks and put them under pressure.”
Wales need at least a point against the world’s top-ranked side to ensure finishing above the Czech Republic in second and boosting hopes of securing a semi-final home tie in the play-offs.
“That was our target, to finish second in our group, that hasn’t changed,” said Ramsey, who netted twice in Saturday’s 5-1 thrashing of Belarus to move into sixth place on Wales’ all-time scoring list.
“If we manage to get a result on Tuesday, we will have achieved it. That home tie is going to be massive, but there are great teams in that pot who we could potentially draw.
“We have just got to concentrate on this game and try to finish the job off correctly, then worry about whatever is to come in the future.
“We want to finish second in the group so hopefully we can do that.”
After going 58 years without playing at a major tournament, Wales have qualified for the last two European Championships – reaching the semi-finals in 2016 and the round of 16 last summer.
But time is ticking on whether the so-called ‘Golden Generation’ can make it to a World Cup.
Another memorable night at home 🏴🏴🏴 see you Tuesday #TheRedWall @FAWales pic.twitter.com/lzLsLVoWSr
— Aaron Ramsey (@aaronramsey) November 13, 2021
Skipper Gareth Bale – who will definitely not start against Belgium because of injury after winning his 100th cap against Belarus – Joe Allen and Ramsey will all be in their mid-thirties by the time the 2026 World Cup finals come around.
“Hopefully there will be a couple of games in March,” said Ramsey, who is set to wear the armband in Bale’s absence.
“They’re going to be huge games for us. To qualify for a World Cup, these opportunities won’t come along very often.
“It might be the last time we have an opportunity as good as this. We’ll deal with that when we come to it, right now have to focus on finishing the job off against Belgium.”
While Wales are set to be without Bale and the suspended Ethan Ampadu, Roberto Martinez’s Belgium have been hit by a raft of injuries and withdrawals.
Jeremy Doku, Michy Batshuayi, Romelu Lukaku, Toby Alderweireld, Thomas Vermaelen and Youri Tielemans all missed the 3-1 win over Estonia on Saturday.
The victory guaranteed Belgium top spot in Group E and qualification for a fifth major tournament at Qatar 2022.
Real Madrid pair Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois have also been ruled out of the trip to Cardiff.
Ramsey added: “Those players (Hazard and Courtois) are playing for one of the biggest teams in the world. It might help us out a little bit, but they have other players who are full of quality and can produce something themselves.
“We can’t take them lightly because they have such strength in depth. We’re going to have to be right at it from the first whistle.”
The winners of each group automatically qualify for the World Cup finals, which run from November 21 to December 18 2022, and three more teams will seal their place at the end of the playoffs in March.
The play-offs take place from March 24 to 29, with 10 group runners-up joined by the two best group winners from the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League overall ranking that have neither qualified directly as group winners nor entered the playoffs already as group runners up.
These 12 teams will be drawn into three play-off paths for one-off semi-finals and a final, with the three path winners then qualifying for the tournament in Qatar.
The draw will be seeded based upon qualifying-round points – with the two UEFA Nations League teams being unseeded.
The order of preference for the two teams to enter the play-offs (if required) via the Nations League, of teams who are still able to use this route, is France, Wales, Austria and Czech Republic, meaning Robert Page’s side are already guaranteed a play-off berth via their Nations League rankings.
As Austria, and either Wales or Czech Republic, are guaranteed to finish outside the top two in their group, no other country is in contention for one of the two additional places.
