Welsh football might be in the doldrums on an international scale but in domestic football, serious strides have been made in recent years.
Swansea City are equipping themselves admirably in their second Premier League season, comfortably sitting in the reaches of mid-table and playing some stylish football along the way.
Their bitter rivals Cardiff City could be about to join them in the Premier League. After so many near misses of late, will 2012-13 finally be the year where they join the top flight limelight.
Nine wins in a row
On Saturday, Cardiff came out on top of a massive clash with Middlesbrough. Matthew Connolly headed home the only goal in a 1-0 victory.
The win lifted Malky Mackay’s side above their rivals into second place in the table, with only high-flying Crystal Palace above them.
Not only that but it was the Bluebirds’ ninth successive home victory at the Cardiff City Stadium (pictured).
They have turned their ground into a real fortress and to have any ambitions of joining the elite, you need an excellent home record.
Secondly, they have one of the best upcoming managers in the game in Mackay.
The former defender won promotion in three successive seasons in the last decade with Norwich City, West Ham United and Watford.
He knows the ins and outs of quite possibly the most competitive division in Europe.
Cardiff could do a lot worse if they didn’t have Mackay in charge. As a manager, he promotes team spirit and leadership as a major quality and will always back his players.
Thirdly, the club have developed a huge fanbase and expectations are high. If anyone saw some of the home performances during the run to the League Cup final last season – they will know that the atmosphere inside the Cardiff City Stadium when at full capacity is phenomenal.
Concerns it might not happen
While home form has been sensational, it isn’t the same story on the road.
The rocky defence crumbled recently at Charlton, losing 5-4 having been 2-0 up.
They also lost healthy leads against both Bristol City and Crystal Palace earlier in the season and shipped three goals away at Nottingham Forest.
It is a backline that can be attacked and does concede goals too easily. Sometimes, Cardiff remind me of the old Newcastle philosophy under Kevin Keegan in the 1990s, where it was attempt to outscore the opposition.
Sure it does provide plenty of entertainment for the fans and for the neutral but it is unlikely to provide huge success.
The club is also under massive pressure from fans regarding expectations.
Having been mightily unlucky to lose on penalties to Liverpool last season in the Carling Cup final, league form dipped and by the time they played West Ham in last season’s play-off semi-finals, there was only likely to be one winner.
Pressure is something that the Cardiff players have never quite been able to deal with, despite the rise in fortunes over the past decade.
You have to remember that they have come a long way. This was a club still playing in the old Third Division with lack of money and a dilapidated ground in Ninian Park as recent as 1999.
Squad is capable
The current playing squad is absolutely capable of achieving promotion to the Premier League.
Mackay managed to persuade Craig Bellamy back to the club from Liverpool on a permanent basis in the summer.
The local lad has been marginalised by several injury lay-offs so far this season but we all know what Bellamy can do on his day.
Both Peter Whittingham and Aron Gunnarsson are two of the brightest midfield talents around in the Championship.
They are creative, dynamic; love to get forward and both will be likely to get into double figure scoring tallies come the end of the season.
There is also plenty of experience in the shape of Kevin McNaughton, Stephen McPhail and Mark Hudson while Ben Turner has really developed into a very good central defender in the past year.
Plus in Nicky Maynard and Heidar Helguson, they have two goalscorers who have been there, done that and scored plenty of goals at this level for a number of sides over the years.
Cardiff have the perfect mix of fresh youngsters and stern experience to indicate that this could be their year to finally escape the Championship.
Expectations are high in the area. Don’t be too surprised if there are two Welsh sides on the Premier League fixture list next season.
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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