Wales manager Chris Coleman promised that his team were not coming to Euro 2016 “for a laugh”, but his players have been having the time of their lives in France.
From Gareth Bale’s training ground tomfoolery to Joe Ledley’s outlandish dance moves, the Welsh players have seemed immune to the pressures of major tournament football.
Friday’s quarter-final with Belgium is Wales’s biggest game since a 1-0 loss to Brazil in the last eight at the 1958 World Cup, but Coleman’s men are taking everything in their stride.
“With our team spirit, it’s like being with your mates on holiday,” said Real Madrid star Bale, lead prankster at the team’s Dinard base in Brittany, northwest France.
“Doing quizzes all the time, playing games. The fact we all enjoy spending time with each other, it helps with the downtime.”
Bale, 26, has helped set the mischievous tone of Wales’s approach to the Euro, cheekily taking aim at Group B rivals England before the tournament had even begun.
A Wales international since the age of 16, Bale feels perfectly at home in the national set-up and his relaxed attitude has rubbed off on his team-mates.
“He’s still one of the most immature players in the squad,” says right-back Chris Gunter in Welsh journalist Chris Wathan’s book ‘Together Stronger: The Rise of Welsh Football’s Golden Generation’.
“He’s relaxed and it relaxes everyone else. He’s got the same attitude as guys in the squad from League One or Two (England’s third and fourth tiers).
“If you came into the squad and you didn’t know, you would never guess which one was the most expensive footballer in the world – because he’s just one of us.”
Wherever the eye has fallen on Wales’s Euro campaign, there have been smiles and bonhomie.
Bearded Crystal Palace midfielder Ledley celebrated the 3-0 win over Russia in Toulouse with an on-pitch shuffle that quickly made a buzz on social media.
