Euro 2016: Wales has grown in confidence and stature, says Gareth Bale

Paris Gareth Bale has predicted a bright future for Wales following the disappointment of exiting Euro 2016 Wales bowed out of the tournament at the semifinal stage with a 20 defeat to Portugal in Lyon on Wednesday nightHard luck mate Portugals Cristiano Ronaldo comforts Wales striker Gareth Bale right after their Euro 2016 semifinal at the the Parc Olympique Lyonnais Stadium in DecinesCharpieu Lyon on Wednesday Portugal won 20 PicAFPBut Bale hailed the remarkable journey which has seen Wales go from being ranked 117th in the world less than five years ago to reaching the last four of the European Championship And the Real Madrid insists the determination is there for Wales to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia To be so close to the final and miss out is disappointing but we have to be proud of what weve achieved Bale saidAmazing journeyIt hurts now because its fresh but weve been on an amazing journey The whole nation has enjoyed the journey as much as us and its been amazing incredible Fans staff everyone Its been one of those moments in your life well never forget and very special to all of us Thousands of fans are expected to welcome home Chris Colemans squad to Cardiff on FridayThe whole country has been caught up by the teams performances in France mdash the first time that a Wales side have reached the semifinal of a major competition But Bale says that the focus is already switching to the World Cup qualifying campaign which starts with a home game against Moldova in SeptemberOur hunger is there more than ever to get back to major tournaments Theres more improvements from us and come the World Cup qualifiers mdash which are not too far away mdash well get back to working hard and doing what we do best the 26yearold saidManager Coleman proudColeman expressed his pride at the performance of his players after Wales elimination was confirmed by two Portugal goals in three minutes at the start of the second halfBales club teammate Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring with a towering header before setting up Nani for the second goalBale said We can be a better side from it Weve grown in confidence weve grown in stature and I think well be more respected We said all along we didnt just want to qualify for this tournament we want to qualify every time The hunger is there the spirit is there and well take all the positives and go into the next campaign trying to do it again We always wanted to test ourselves against the best and I think weve done everybody proud mdash including ourselves We can hold our heads high and give it a right go again Wales held their customary huddle at the end of the game in front of their supportersSkipper Williams satisfiedThey were given an overwhelming reception and skipper Ashley Williams said the Euros had provided a firm foundation on which to build Weve got to be proud of ourselves Its such a young squad the Swansea defender said We cant be deflated after this mdash getting to the semifinals mdash because noone thought we were going to get here Its such a young team and theyre going to have a lot more success It was a bit of a geeup really This isnt the end Its the start of something massive