Wales' route to the Euro' 2004 finals has been knocked off course by UEFA's decision to postpone their clash with Serbia & Montenegro next week for security reasons.
So if Wales are going to reach next summer's finals, they are going to have to do it the hard way with a nightmare spell of three tough internationals in 22 days at the beginning of next season.
The decision taken at UEFA's Rome congress after lengthy talks between the Football Association of Wales and Serbian FA means that manager Mark Hughes' team will have to play their two toughest Group Nine away games in Serbia and then Italy during that spell.
"Things always seem to be tough for us, so if we have got to do it the hard way, so be it," said FAW international secretary Mark Evans.
The new date for the Serbia match, expected to be staged in Belgrade like next week's game should have been, is August 20 and that is also the first Wednesday of the Premiership season.
Serbia is currently under a state of emergency since the assassination of their Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic a fortnight ago.
The Serbian Government this week told their FA that they would not be allowed to stage the Wales match because they feared political unrest if 50,000 fans were gathered together in the Red Star Stadium - currently mass meetings are forbidden under the current emergency regulations.
Attempts to re-arrange the match in Cardiff or elsewhere in Serbia were also thrown out as unworkable at such short notice.
So now Hughes, who has also had to contend with the Craig Bellamy saga all week, knows he will have to take his team to Belgrade on August 20th, face Italy away on September 6th and then play Finland back in Cardiff on September 10th.
That is a hugely demanding schedule for a country of Wales' size with their limited number of top class players.
Hughes, at least, will now almost certainly select Bellamy for this Saturday's Millennium Stadium clash with Azerbaijan, where victory will give them four straight group wins.
The Newcastle star, contrary to reports, has not been charged or served with a summons following an incident in Cardiff on Sunday night that has been investigated by the police.
The evidence has been passed to the Criminal Prosecution Service by South Wales Police for a decision on whether Bellamy will be charged, but until then Hughes would be under no pressure to drop the striker.