Chris Coleman comfortable among the elite after losing ‘bell boy’ status

Chris Coleman is focusing on World Cup glory after losing his “bell boy” status in international football.

Wales’s success in reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2016 raised the profile of Welsh football and has seen manager Coleman rub shoulders with some of the major figures in the international game.

The 46-year-old was among the main speakers at the Uefa national team coaches conference in Paris last month alongside World Cup winners Didier Deschamps (France) and Vicente Del Bosque (Spain).

“It was nice that one or two of them recognised me this time. The last time I think they thought I was the bell boy!” Coleman joked ahead of Wales’s World Cup qualifier in Austria tonight (kick-off 7:45pm). “They did not know who I was. But it was great this time. Alex Ferguson was there, Michael O’Neill, Martin O’Neill, Gordon Strachan also.

“It was a full day, a really interesting event to listen to everybody, and it was nice that they had four managers on the top table. There was Didier Deschamps, myself, Lars Lagerback and Vicente Del Bosque, and it felt great to be on the stage with them speaking about our experiences.

“I was there two years previously listening to the four managers on the stage who had been to the semi-finals of the World Cup. You cannot help but wonder if you could be there one day, and it came true.”

Coleman accepts Wales are there to be “shot at” after an incredible summer which saw them become the smallest nation to reach the last four of the European Championships.

Wales’s form over the last two years saw them placed in the band of top seeds for 2018 World Cup qualifying and, after opening up with a 4-0 home victory over Moldova last month, they now face what will arguably be their toughest test in Group D.

Austria might have endured a winless Euro 2016 to surprisingly depart at the group stage but they qualified for France with nine victories and a draw, and are the second seeds in a competitive group which also features Serbia and the Republic of Ireland.

“They will see it as a chance to send a message,” Coleman said of opponents who opened their World Cup campaign with a 2-1 win in Georgia last month.

“Before teams would have played us and thought they should take all three points.

“Now if teams get a draw, they will view it as a great point. Which means their set-up will be different to what we would have faced before — where sides would have attacked us they will sit off us.

“We have to find a different way to approach it in our preparation and the messages we send, whether we like it or not.

“With success comes complacency if you let it happen, so we have to make sure we up our game. Anything was a result in the last campaign, now if we do not get at least a point people will be disappointed.”

However, Coleman’s opposite number tonight, Marcel Koller, believes Wales were “lucky” to reach the Euro 2016 semi-finals.

“It will be a close match tomorrow and we can win the game. You need to be lucky as well. That is what we saw in the Euros. Wales were lucky sometimes and sometimes you need to be lucky such as when a striker shoots against the crossbar or post,” Koller said.

“During the Euros they were lucky that a match did not turn in another direction.

“I think that helped the Welsh team get a really good portion of self-confidence. Nobody really expected the Welsh team to be in the semi-finals before the European Championships.”

Austria are without the injured Martin Harnik, the Hannover 96 striker who has scored 14 international goals. Sturm Graz’s Deni Alar has taken his place in the squad.