For a manager already denied his first-choice midfielders, as well as their back-ups and a clutter of attackers, Wales manager Mark Hughes cut a chipper figure as his most promising defender grimaced from the training pitch clutching his lower back.

"We've had injuries to key players," he shrugged, "but that will not affect us as much as people imagine. These are special times for Welsh football."

Cardiff's Danny Gabbidon may not make it in Azerbaijan this afternoon but, should his team-mates overcome Group Nine's whipping boys to open up a five-point advantage at the top, he and Wales might still make it to Portugal in two years. Hughes's side are unbeaten in 14 months and seven matches.

"You can sense the confidence, that the lads are enjoying going back to their clubs wearing their Welsh shirts," said Hughes, who played his squad a re-run of last month's 2-1 success over Italy on Sunday. "It's a good time to be a Welsh international and players and managers alike come up to me and say well done. But we've still got a lot of work to do."

Hughes remains cautious though, remembering a 5-0 drubbing in the apparent backwater of Georgia in 1994.Not that the turmoil engulfing the Azeri suggests as much this time. The coach Asker Abdulaev - the team's third manager this year - returned to the helm for a second time last month after Vagif Sadikhov resigned having been robbed of a domestic championship in which to assess his side since May.

All but one of the 12 top-flight clubs withdrew from the league in protest at alleged corruption by the Azerbaijani Football Federation, though their breakaway set-up has since disintegrated.

Nicolas Anelka looks set to escape a threatened suspension following his refusal to play for France after it emerged the French Football Federation had themselves broken FIFA regulations. The Manchester City striker was called up for the friendly against Yugoslavia today, but has refused to turn out - and the fact the French failed to give him or his club 15 days' notice means no suspension will be enforced.

Guardian Service