Austria trip crucial to Wales' hopes of reaching 2018 World Cup, says Ben Davies
Tuesday 4 October 2016 17:41, UK
Ben Davies fancies Wales to reach the 2018 World Cup in Russia if they can maintain their strong start to qualifying against Austria on Thursday, live on Sky Sports 1 HD.
The Tottenham full-back is part of the 23-man squad that will travel to the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in the first of their back-to-back World Cup Qualifiers, with a home tie against Georgia following three days later.
Live International Football: FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifiers
Chis Coleman's side beat Moldova 4-0 in their opening Group D fixture, and after reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2016, Davies is confident they can reach another major tournament in two years' time.
"You always look at starts in groups to give you a good basis from which to kick on for the rest of it," Davies said.
"We're looking at the next few games as very important.
"If we can put ourselves in a good position in this group it definitely gives us a good platform to play confidently and try to get through to the World Cup.
"This (Austria game) is definitely one of the hardest games.
"In their (Euro 2016) qualifying campaign they did very well, and they were the second seeds in this group as well."
Although Austria went into the European Championships earlier this summer as much-fancied outsiders, the team failed to make it out of their group.
However, Davies insists his team are not taking anything for granted and believes avoiding defeat could have a big impact on their chances of qualifying.
"We definitely kept an eye out for them after we knew we were going to play against them in the (World Cup) qualifiers," Davies said.
"We were surprised they didn't do very well at the Euros, but that doesn't mean so much over the course of three games.
"They're playing at home and it's going to be a tough game. But we did so well over the summer that we are hungry for more success.
"You've got to have those expectations to push yourself as far as you can go.
"If we can get something against Austria it will definitely put us in a good place in the group. Getting the advantage early on it's always a positive."
