TONIGHT’S Euro 2016 quarter-final against Belgium is billed as the biggest match in Welsh football history but Wales have been in this position twice before.

In 1958 Jimmy Murphy’s team – packed with stars like John Charles, Ivor Allchurch and Cliff Jones – reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Sweden.

And 40 years ago Mike Smith’s Wales side – featuring Terry Yorath, Leighton James and John Toshack – also made the last eight of the 1976 European Championships, albeit not the final tournament stage of the competition.

Murphy’s men had not actually qualified in 1958 but benefited from other teams’ reluctance to play Israel in a play-off and duly dispatched the Israelis over two legs to book their place in Sweden.

Wales began with a 1-1 draw with Mexico thanks to a Charles equaliser. They then drew 1-1 with Hungary, with Allchurch on the scoresheet, and 0-0 with hosts Sweden before winning a play-off 2-1 against the Hungarians with Allchurch and Terry Medwin the scorers.

That saw them progress to the quarter-finals where they came up against eventual champions Brazil and, playing without injured talisman Charles, lost 1-0 to Pele’s solitary strike.

“We were unlucky to lose in the quarter-finals,” said Mel Charles, brother of John.

“Brazil had been beating everybody easily but we did very well, and I still think to this day if my brother had played it might have been different.

“We'd played Hungary the game before and they'd kicked lumps out of John. There was no way he could have played in this game. But I think we hit the post twice, and the crossbar.

“If John had played I'm sure we would have beaten them. He made a hell of a difference to our team, did John. I'm not just saying it because I'm his brother – he was a class act.

“Pele scored the winner, and it must have been the luckiest goal ever because I missed the ball by an inch – he got there just before me – and then it just missed Stuart Williams as well, and trickled in at the far post.”

The 1976 vintage has been slightly overlooked, purely because the Euros were organised differently back then with only the final four teams participating in the finals.

Wales lost their first qualifier in September 1974, beaten 2-1 in Austria, but followed that with home and away wins over Hungary and Luxembourg before clinching top spot in the group with a 1-0 home win over Austria in November 1975.

That saw them qualify for a two-leg ‘quarter-final’ against Yugoslavia, who were set to host the final stages that summer.

“We were quietly confident,” said Leighton James. "Provided that we didn't blow up out in Yugoslavia, we would have a chance in Cardiff.”

Yet it all went wrong on a tough night in Zagreb.

"We lost 2-0, going a goal down after less than a minute," recalls James. "That was a disastrous start for us. We lost but we were still confident of clawing it back.

"In the second leg we had an East German referee and he refused to start the game unless the East German flag was flown over the stadium.

“He gave them an awful penalty and they scored, putting us 3-0 down. We then proceeded to hammer them, got a goal back, and really should have beaten them. We played very well on the day, but it wasn't to be.”

James added: “It’s the forgotten campaign. When we all meet up we still mention it and we get a little peeved or annoyed that people tell us we've qualified for nothing since 1958.

"We went out in the quarter-finals, and that's still something the footballing public of Wales doesn't pay much attention to."

There is no danger of Chris Coleman’s men going under the radar tonight, especially if they go one stage further than the heroes of 1958 and 1976.

Time to make more history boys.

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