Wales’ U21s finally play their first home qualifier tonight, as they face off against top of the table Iceland at Rodney Parade.
After playing their first three qualifiers away from home, Matty Jones and his team return to Newport for the first of their home fixtures.
With a victory under their belt against Lithuania and draws with Denmark and Czechia, Wales are in a good position in the group.
Now with a run of games at home, manager Jones is looking forward to reacquainting themselves with the Newport faithful.
“I try not to use the word fortress, and instead use the word home, and that’s how it feels every time I’ve visited Rodney Parade, and there have been many visits.
“We wanted to put this plan in place, not just as a group of players and staff, but collectively going forward.
“We have the best hospitality when we go there, we’ve had an open training session with schools and university students attending, and it’s important for the players to embrace everything that’s going on there as well, and that will give us further support as we go along in this campaign.”
Captain Fin Stevens is also looking forward to finally playing their first home game of the campaign and is hoping a number of fans will brave the cold weather to cheer them on.
“It’s a huge thing for us to have a home game that we can play at all the time. Hopefully we can get quite a few fans in to push us on.
“When we go away it’s always the other way round, and now we’re going to have that backing behind us and that should help us a lot.”
Jones influence
A common theme when talking to U21 players this week has been their praise and admiration for Matty Jones.
Charlie Crew and Cian Ashford couldn’t hold the manager in a higher regard, and captain Stevens added his name to a long list of admirers.
“Matty is really big on togetherness and wanting the team to be a real family.
“The detail in his training, the things he talks about, the profiles on the opposition, the detail in what he does and do is second to none.”
When asked what he thought of the comments made about him, Jones was clearly a little emotional by the outpouring of support.
But the manager himself went through so many things as a player, and he wants to bring the lessons he learned to the next generation of Welsh superstars.
“I’ve been overwhelmed really by some of the comments made this week.
“For me, first and foremost, it’s about being professional in my role and to show the passion and empathy and support to the person first rather than the player.
“It’s part of my job, but not just myself, I empower a lot of staff within our environment for them to get better and improve me.
“It’s a wonderful learning environment that we’re in and that’s what the players are seeing as well that we’re tapping into their learnings and how to improve them.
“We don’t just talk about football; we talk about a lot of other things and the players know just how much we care for them as people.”
Top of the table battle
Wales’ first home fixture couldn’t be tougher, as they face off against Iceland.
The Nordic side currently sit top of the group having won their first two games, and Stevens knows just how tough the test will be.
“They’re going to come and they’re going to bring everything they’ve got and give 100%. We know what teams like them are like, they give all they got, and they go all the way until the end.
“They’ve got a few good players in their team and the way they play can be tough, but we’ve looked at ways to break them down and I think we’re in a good place.”
From a managerial perspective, Jones knows his Icelandic counterpart well, and is fully aware of the challenge his side will bring to South Wales.
“I do feel like Iceland are a major threat. They’ve highly achieved themselves so far in the group.
I know their manager, Davíd Snorri Jónasson, and if his team is anything like him, they’re going to be set up well, well-drilled, and it’s going to be a good fight for us.
“One thing we need to be is up for the fight and up for the battle, which I’m confident we will be ready for.
“Hopefully when the game settles, I’m confident our qualities will shine through.”
If Wales do come through and get the win, they will leapfrog Iceland in the table and put themselves at the top of Group I.
It’s certainly a tantalising prospect for fans and players alike, and Stevens is hoping they can get one over on Iceland to put themselves in a perfect position to face Denmark.
“They’ve won two out of two, and what we want to do is perhaps knock them off their perch a little bit.
“We need a good result so we can go into the game against Denmark with a positive attitude so that we can beat them as well.”
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