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Euro 2016 QF: Wales depend on Bale to continue making history

[caption id="attachment_17453" align="alignnone" width="580"] Wales training ahead crucial match against Belgium. Twitter[/caption] Internet Desk: A first semi-final appearance at a major tournament awaits Wales as they prepare for a clash with Belgium, the highest-ranked European side. Marc Wilmots' side trail only Argentina in the FIFA World Rankings and have responded well to the 2-0 defeat against Italy that started their Euro 2016 challenge. Eight goals without reply in the past three games will give the Belgians plenty of confidence ahead of Friday's quarter-final. But Wales took four points off Belgium in qualification and are already making history at their maiden European Championship. The Welsh have kept back-to-back clean sheets, against Russia and Northern Ireland, and did not concede against the Red Devils in either of their Euro 2016 qualifying games either. And of course they have Gareth Bale as the Real Madrid forward was joint top of the goalscorer charts (with three) after the round of 16 games and is not short on confidence ahead of the game. Ashley Williams has recovered from the shoulder injury he picked up against Norther Ireland. The Wales captain struggled through to full-time with the injury and underwent tests at the start of the week, but joined in with full training on Wednesday.

All other 22 Wales players are reported as full fit ahead of Friday's game in Lille.

Belgium's defensive injury crisis, meanwhile, is building. Regular centre-backs Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Lombaerts didn't even make it to the tournament, while Thomas Vermaelen is suspended and Jan Vertonghen has been ruled out with an ankle ligament injury.

Vertonghen suffered the injury in training on Thursday, rolling over on his ankle as the coach blew his whistle to end the session. The Tottenham Hotspur defender will definitely miss Friday's game and reports suggest that he could be out for up to four months.

Jordan Lukaku and Manchester City youngster Jason Denayer are expected to come into the back four. Eden Hazard has not trained since the 4-0 win over Hungary due to a knock, but his manager has said the Chelsea winger will be able to feature. Mousa Dembele has trained with the Belgium squad after missing his team's last two games. The winners will face either Poland or Portugal in Lyon on Wednesday.