Sunday 13 December 2015 10:35, UK
England have already drawn up a masterplan for dealing with Gareth Bale when they face Wales at next summer's European Championship.
The two teams will go head-to-head on June 16 in Lens in their Group B clash having been drawn together, along with Russia and Slovakia, on Saturday.
Wales had a stunning qualifying campaign, including victory over the world's No 1 team Belgium, and while England will be favourites to overcome their British rivals, the threat of Real Madrid's Bale will be huge.
England boss Roy Hodgson said: "As far as I'm concerned let's bring it on now and I only hope on the night my team will perform at the level I hope they can perform at.
"One of the things we will be concerned with will be stopping Gareth Bale and limiting his chances but I would like to think we have one or two players that will occupy Welsh minds in terms of how we stop them.
"I've been very, very impressed with Wales. I think they have a strong spine. I think Ashley Williams has done a magnificent job at centre-half. They have a good goalkeeper in Wayne Hennessy.
"And I think Chris Coleman has put a lot of players around those that are complementing them well and make certain they can get the best out of, in particular, Gareth Bale, who is a world star."
There is no chance England will neglect Wales' other threats, according to Hodgson, who said: "If people are going to tell me that Wales are a team who relies on one man then I don't accept that - you can never build a team around one player.
"At the moment Gareth Bale might be scoring a goal a game but come June that might not be the case or he might be injured. I have a certain experience of that happening and disrupting your plans - Chris has been able to put together a more settled team than us."
England will face Russia first, in Marseille on June 11, then Wales five days later in the northern city of Lens with their last game against Slovakia in St Etienne on June 20.
"We must respect our other opponents too," Hodgson said. "Slovakia is a country I like and admire which had a fantastic qualifying campaign. Martin Skrtel was a very good player when I was at Liverpool and he's even better now, a really important player for Slovakia.
"Russia too is a team I have met in my coaching career, but they qualified well and are a threat."
Hodgson, whose contract runs out next summer, can also enjoy the tournament knowing he has the full backing of his employers until the 2018 World Cup.
FA chief executive Martin Glenn said the manager is "our man for 2018", as long as the team show signs of progress at Euro 2016.
