Wales vs Belgium preview: My side will aim beyond Euro 2016 quarter-final, says Chris Coleman

Wales take on Belgium in Friday's quarter-final after an impressive debut European Championship

Chris Coleman has called on his Wales side to aim high when they take on Belgium in the Euro 2016 quarter-finals on Friday (Getty)

Chris Coleman has urged his Wales players to seize the moment in the country’s biggest game since 1958 by not allowing themselves to believe that the Euro 2016 quarter-final against Belgium is the limit of their capabilities in France.

Wales, who defeated Belgium in Cardiff on their way to qualification for their first major tournament since reaching the 1958 World Cup quarter-finals, are on the brink of breaking new ground in Lille if they are able to progress to the semi-finals.

But having topped Group B ahead of England before eliminating Northern Ireland in the second round last Saturday, Coleman insists that his team can now go beyond the last eight.

And he believes the time has come to talk up Wales’ achievements and contemplate how much further the squad can go at Euro 2016.

“I’m not going to play the occasion down,” Coleman said. “I’m going to enjoy it and savour it, but we’ll enjoy it when we perform and we put the work in.

“We’ve done that so far, but it’s not a feeling that Wales can’t lose, that they weren’t meant to be here, that we are the underdogs.

“It’s not the way we see it. It’s a big test, a huge challenge, but just another one in a line of them we’ve already met.

“We’re in a great position, but we have to do all the things we’ve done to get here in the first place. The pressure is on us from within to keep performing and that’s what we will want to do.”

With Belgium familiar opponents for the Welsh, the biggest unknown in the Lille Metropole Stadium is likely to be the playing surface, which was only relaid less than a week ago.

During the pre-match walk-around by the Wales squad on Thursday evening, Gareth Bale was conspicuously picking up loose pieces of turf before replacing them like a golfer restoring a divot on the fairway.

Wales reached the last eight after a Gareth McAuley own goal against Northern Ireland last weekend (Getty)

Wales will be boosted, however, by the fitness of captain Ashley Williams, who has recovered from a shoulder injury in time to face the Belgians.

“The medical staff have done a fantastic job,” Coleman said. “It’s great that he is available.

“Maybe I’m old fashioned, but you need leaders in your side. We’ve got a really good dressing room, a good blend, and Ash is the captain

“We tried to take him off the pitch (against Northern Ireland) but he wasn’t having any of it. But when you have a strong dressing room, you need a strong character to lead it, and Ash is that.”

Despite earning a win and a draw against Belgium during the qualification campaign, Wales go into the game as underdogs with Marc Wilmots’ team cruising into the last eight with a 4-0 win against Hungary.

But Coleman insists that, despite suggestions that Belgium are a supreme attacking force, Wales can also punch their weight in an attacking sense.

“We know them, they know us, but it’s all about Wales, all about us,” Coleman said. “Our preparation, our focus doesn’t change.

“They are deemed an offensive team because they’ve scored eight. We’re called a defensive team and we’ve scored seven.

“But they’ll play the way they play. Imagination, pace and power, but we’ll defend the way we play and, when it’s time to defend, we’ll do it for our lives.

“It’s the same with attack and if we do that, Belgium will know they will have hell of a game on their hands.”

Belgium’s array of stars and the troublesome Lille pitch stand in the way of Coleman’s players, but his squad are on the verge of becoming history-makers.

“Before we came here we went to Portugal,” Coleman said. “We had a good week and one of the players from the 1958 team came out had a chat with some of the boys and we were talking about the experience they had.

“When those players arrived back in Swansea off the train, they were asked where they had been on holiday because nobody knew about the World Cup, nobody knew Wales had been at the World Cup in the quarter-finals

“ Obviously it is a lot different nowadays days with Welsh football but I am quite sure it meant the same to them as us now

“ I don't need to ham this game up, we know what’s at stake and we know we’ve earned it.

“It’s a fantastic, positive pressure we’ve earned it and we have to put this down as the biggest game our country’s been involved in, which is a great place to be.”