Hughes hails Welsh spirit

Bellamy celebrates scoring the opening goal in Cardiff

Wales manager Mark Hughes was full of praise for his side's display against World Cup favourites Argentina in Cardiff on Wednesday.

Wales, ranked 101st in the world, earned a deserved 1-1 draw against Argentina to delight the 63,000 fans who crowded into the Millennium Stadium.

"I asked my players, individually, for a big, big performance from everyone of them - and that is what I got," said Hughes.

We must build on this, we can't just be happy with a result like this, we have to keep progressing

Mark Hughes
Wales manager

"I wanted them to experience some real satisfaction from a performance like that.

"So often in our World Cup qualifying campaign, my players turned in fine displays with great effort, but were not rewarded for that."

Argentina, who meet England in the World Cup finals in Japan, rested many of their stars against Wales.

But Hughes said: "This performance was a tremendous boost for Welsh football. The players now have belief from their efforts.

"We will now be able to press on with confidence to our European qualifiers.

"We now know we can compete with the best, it's great for our preparation for matches against Italy that we have coming up.

"But we must build on this, we can't just be happy with a result like this, we have to keep progressing."

Wales didn't surprise me, they played like I thought they were going to play

Marcelo Bielsa
Argentina manager

Argentina captain Juan Sebastian Veron said he was not surprised at how well the Welsh played.

The Manchester United midfielder said: "We were aware of their good players and we don't take much notice of world rankings.

"But it was a good opportunity to wear the national shirt again, all our players enjoyed the game and there were a lot of good players on show on both sides.

"We knew what Wales were capable of and that was proved tonight. They did very well."

Coach Marcelo Bielsa added: "There are two more friendlies to go before the World Cup, so there is still time in which players can prove themselves.

"Wales didn't surprise me, they played like I thought they were going to play.

"As for the stadium, it was excellent - but with the roof shut I don't think we learned too much that we didn't already know."