{"id":299367,"date":"2023-11-14T17:24:07","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T17:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=299367"},"modified":"2023-11-14T17:24:07","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T17:24:07","slug":"we-know-what-it-means-to-wales-to-get-to-euro-2024-jordan-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/we-know-what-it-means-to-wales-to-get-to-euro-2024-jordan-james\/","title":{"rendered":"We know what it means to Wales to get to Euro 2024 \u2013 Jordan James"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Wales midfielder Jordan James is targeting Euro 2024 qualification after enjoying the \u201cbest night of my life\u201d against stellar Croatia trio Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic.<\/p>\n
Croatia have often carried the tag of having the best midfield in world football, but they had few answers in Cardiff last month as Wales beat them 2-1 to keep hopes of playing at Euro 2024 alive.<\/p>\n
James, the 19-year-old Birmingham midfielder, had a huge part to play in that victory alongside Ethan Ampadu, and Wales now meet Armenia and Turkey this week with automatic qualification in their own hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was probably the best night of my life, as a collective and for me personally,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing my family in the crowd and how proud they were, it was a massive win for the country. Hopefully we can do the same in the next two games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it gets much better than that, but we\u2019ve still got a job to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn paper, that was the toughest game in the group, but we\u2019re not going to take the next two games lightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know what it means to the country to get to these big tournaments, so that\u2019s our focus and hopefully we can do that.<\/p>\n
It was probably the best night of my life, as a collective and for me personally<\/p>\n
\u201cComing into this camp now, we\u2019ll look back on that Croatia game and take confidence into the next two.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hereford-born James was capped by England at Under-20 level but qualifies for Wales through his father Tony, who played for his hometown club Newport.<\/p>\n
James only made his debut in March \u2013 coming on as a substitute in the 1-1 draw away to Croatia in Split \u2013 but has started the last two qualifiers, both of which Wales won.<\/p>\n
He has now won six caps \u2013 an incredible 164 fewer than Real Madrid star Modric \u2013 and quickly struck up an effective partnership with Leeds midfielder Ampadu.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great. As soon as I played with him the first time, we just clicked,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just work off each other, I think you saw that against Croatia. When we didn\u2019t have possession, we were solid, we did our job and that\u2019s the main thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan is a brilliant player and it\u2019s very easy to play with him. I see him as a leader and I study how he plays because he\u2019s somewhere I want to get to. I could see him being captain one day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had massive trust from the gaffer (Rob Page) at such a young age. Playing for your country, there is a risk but he took it and I\u2019m just trying to repay him for what he\u2019s done for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wales will secure a top-two place in Group D by taking maximum points from Armenia in Yerevan on Saturday and already-qualified Turkey at the Cardiff City Stadium three days later.<\/p>\n
Dropped points will leave Wales relying on favourable results elsewhere if they are to avoid the play-offs in March where the likes of Norway, Poland and Ukraine could be lurking.<\/p>\n
Armenia, ranked 95th in the world and 67 places below Wales, stunned Page\u2019s side with a 4-2 Cardiff victory in June.<\/p>\n
James said: \u201cThere is a bit of revenge there because you don\u2019t like losing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re athletes, we want to compete, and we don\u2019t like losing against any team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not nice and we want to get one back on them. But we know we\u2019ve got a job to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to get it done and then focus on Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n