John Hartson believes Wales' victory over Belgium last night was the biggest achievement in the nation's sporting history and spoke with passion and pride as he discussed the applicaiton of the players on Friday night.
Wales are now in a semi-final against Portugal on Wednesday night but upon reflection of the game, Hartson says he knew his compatriots had what it took to beat the heavily fancied Belgian side.
Hartson doesn't think Coleman was overly concerned with Belgium's plan. The former Celtic striker says that Coleman has his own plan and that the reliance on it is more important than the opposition.
"We didn't fear Belgium whatsoever but we respected them and rightly so because they have got tremendous individuals but Belgium as a team have faltered. They faltered in the World Cup 2014 and they faltered again in the European championships," he said.
"That's four times we have played Belgium in the last 18 months and have not been beaten. We beat them twice."
"In terms of great moments and achievements in Welsh sporting history, this has got to be the biggest. Now, you can go back to Ian Woosnam won a green jacket in 1991, the Masters. You can look at Colin Jackson, broke the World 110 metres hurdles record at the Olympic games. You can look at Joe Calzaghe, 46, unbeaten boxer, unbelievable fighter, took them all on and its true that you got lots of great Welsh rugby players who played in the Lions' tours and came away with victories in South Africa and everywhere else where they played Australia," Hartson explained.
"But in terms of Wales, this group of players getting to the semi-final of the European Championship. These players will go down in history as achieving the greatest sporting moment in Welsh history. Not just football, in all sports," he continued.
"The 1958 team got to the World Cup quarter-final in Sweden, missed out to Brazil in the quarter-final."
"What a welcome they will receive when they come back to Cardiff. When the journey is over, of course, they're still on the journey. They journey is not over."
Hartson compared the €50 million rated Romelu Lukaku to Hal Robson Kanu, who is currently without a club. Asked if he was given the choice between the two, he knows who he'd pick with or without his Welsh hat on. He would pick the man who turned three Belgian defenders inside out on the way to putting his country up 2-1 last night.
The Welshman is off on holidays but will be back on Wednesday night to commentate on the semi-final clash that he believes they have every chance of winning against a side who have not won in 90 minutes yet in France.
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