Thursday 1 September 2016 08:53, UK
Ahead of the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign, Wales midfielder Dave Edwards speaks to Adam Bate to reflect on an extraordinary summer in France and the importance of using that success as a springboard all the way to Russia in 2018.
While Wales partied, their players were living inside the Euro 2016 cocoon. "Where we were in Dinard, our base, it was pretty quiet so we didn't really know what was going on," says Dave Edwards. "We had Sky Sports News in our rooms but that was about it really."
The world that Chris Coleman's squad emerged to after reaching the semi-finals - the best ever finish by a British nation at a major tournament on foreign soil - was a very different one. "It was pretty special," Edwards adds when harking back to the celebrations in Cardiff.
To see how many fans turned out was just unreal.
"To see how many fans turned out was just unreal. You hear that it's gripping the nation but until you actually see it... It was remarkable, right from the airport all the way to the castle it was busy. And then when you came out of the castle it was a sea of red everywhere.
"It's something people never would have expected us to have done. I think it'll take a while for what we've achieved to sink in." These were the 100/1 shots who stunned highly-fancied Belgium and got to within a game and a half of winning the whole tournament.
Edwards played his part, starting the opening game against Slovakia and featuring against England. But injury then scuppered his involvement and the Wolves man had to experience the Belgium game and "the amazing atmosphere in Lille that night" from the sides.
"Going into the Belgium game I picked up a little injury," he says. "I was hoping it was going to be fine and I did the warm-up. But it just wasn't right and it was too big a game for me to go into with a risky injury. From there on I was fighting hard to be fit for the Portugal game.
"I managed to get on the bench but looking back I just didn't have the training minutes. I genuinely think I would have played a part in those games. But look, I was delighted to be in the squad originally let alone get any minutes and start the first game against Slovakia."
Could they have gone even further? "To be honest, there was a lot of disappointment after the Portugal game," admits Edwards. "We felt it was a game we could have won. But in time I think we'll come to see the semi-finals as a big achievement."
That time has come. In fact, there's now an appetite among the Wales squad to look forward rather than back. The World Cup qualifiers have arrived and with a group that includes Austria, Serbia and Republic of Ireland as the main rivals, an opportunity is there.
Wales have still not reached a World Cup since 1958 and the days of John Charles. Edwards and the team know that the best ever chance to change that lies with this group of players - the generation blessed with Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and the rest.
"This has to act as a springboard going into the next tournament," he says. "There's no point having this great run and then not being able to take it into the next campaign. It's going to be difficult because we're a scalp now and will have more respect from the other teams.
"I think the two games that we struggled in were the Northern Ireland game and the Portugal game. They were the teams that sat behind the ball and shut us down. England had problems with that in the tournament and that's something we're now going to face too.
We fancy ourselves as the best team in the group.
"It's wide open. There are three or four teams in there who'll be happy with the group. International football is not like it used to be. You're not going to be beating teams 6-0 very often now. The gap is smaller. But we fancy ourselves as the best team in the group."
Part of the reason for that is that so little has changed. Bale and Ramsey remain at the peak of their powers, while the reputations of Joe Allen and Ashley Williams are enhanced. In Hal Robson-Kanu, a new star has emerged. The best of Ben Davies is still to come.
"Sometimes you see after tournaments that a team is almost dismantled," adds Edwards. "There'll be people retiring and young blood coming in. But we've got a very settled squad and while there are a couple of older guys I'll be very surprised if anyone wants to retire.
"In fact, there'll be some guys pushing us hard to get into the squad. But in the main it's a settled group and I think that will play into our favour really." The key to that, of course, has been Coleman's management and his attention to detail remains vital.
"Tactically, he and his team were spot on," says Edwards of Euro 2016. "We had a game plan for every single match and we carried out. That's where our strength was. Every single player, whether starting or coming off the bench, knew what their job was for the team.
"We knew how to beat the opposition and so we knew that if we carried out our plans then we'd have a good chance. I think he got pretty much everything right. The team spirit was great and that's something that's evolved over the past two years."
It's an ongoing process. Speaking to Edwards, a 30-year-old midfielder on the fringes of the starting line-up remember, it's clear that Euro 2016 has not sated this squad's appetite. "We're in form and we're confident," he adds. "Now we've got to go and carry it out."
