Rhian Wilkinson says Wales have the potential to qualify for next year’s Women’s World Cup after they beat the Czech Republic to claim top spot in Group B1.
Wales’ impressive 3-1 victory over the Czechs means they will face a more favourable path in the play-offs later this year, with the draw to be made on 18 June.
Even so, there is still much work to do before Wales reach a first Women’s World Cup.
Wilkinson’s team must come through two two-legged ties against European opponents – with one of those likely to be a League A side – and may then face an inter-confederation play-off.
But the Wales head coach believes her players have shown enough quality in the group phase of this campaign to suggest they can claim a place at next year’s tournament in Brazil.
“On our day, why not? I have to think that. Why else would we be doing this?” Wilkinson said.
“As you can see, we’ve got some fabulous players who any country would be proud to have on the field.
“It’s just how we figure out how they play together, how they gel together and also how we use our finishers, our players who come on and either go get us the game or hold out. That is important, that we have a squad and not just 11 players.”
Wales recovered from the shock of falling behind after just five minutes against the Czechs to produce their best performance in the group.
After Lily Woodham’s rapid equaliser, Gemma Evans headed Wales in front early in the second half before Mared Griffiths sealed victory.
“I challenged them to raise the bar and to perform at home in front of our fantastic fans and to enjoy their football,” Wilkinson said.
“When you’re together, when you defend together, when you attack together, when you create these triangles and the plus ones, football is fun. They really did a great job today.”
The play-off semi-finals take place in October, with the finals in late November and early December.
Having finished top of their group, Wales know they will face a team who ended as a runner-up or in third place in another League B group, and that the second leg of the tie will be at home.
Should they progress to the final, Wales would then be likely to face a League A side, with the second leg of that tie being away from home.
Wilkinson says her players can enjoy a four-month break from international football “with a real confidence that we’ve controlled our destiny as much we possibly can going into the first play-offs”.
“A draw is a draw. Who knows who we’re going to get in the first play-off round, but we’ve done what we can,” she added.
“The ambition, and I was pretty open about it, was to win the group and to go undefeated, and that is what we did.
“This has not been an easy window, but it’s finished with a performance that I think is right up there with some of our best, so we’ve done all we can.”
