Gareth Bale celebrates scoring against England at Euro 2016
Gareth Bale celebrates scoring against England at Euro 2016
Host nation: Qatar Dates: 20 November-18 December Coverage: Live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app. Day-by-day TV listings - Full coverage details

It may not be a declaration of support for England for a Wales fan to say "anyone but England".

For many, that phrase is more indicative of a desire to avoid facing England.

Wales have waited 64 years to play at a World Cup, a chance to bask in the tournament's technicolour glow and showcase this nation to a global audience it has never enjoyed before.

They didn't want to have their time in the spotlight diminished by the presence of their oldest rivals, who have nothing new to offer.

When the draw for the World Cup was made in April, Wales were grouped with England. The prospect of a first World Cup in more than 50 years had gone because they had not qualified yet.

Martin Johnes, a professor of history atSwansea University, says that part of the World Cup is playing against players you don't know about.

Everyone in Wales knows a lot about England, the players are familiar, and a lot of our players will play with their players.

For a lot of the hardcore Welsh football fans, they would have wished we had not been drawn in England's group.

As they marked their first World Cup match in 64 years with a draw against the US, Wales finally had their moment in the sun.

The hope that Wales would get to the knockout stages before facing England was destroyed by the 2-0 loss to Iran.

Wales needs to beat England on Tuesday to have a chance of making the knockout stages.

'Every team has weaknesses' - Wales' Bale ready for England

The historic game is a rivalry between two groups of people. If you went back to the 1930s, players would tell you that it was the only game they really wanted to win.

It has been more important to Wales than it has been to England.

We want to build a modern nation. It seems a bit small minded to define yourself by rivalries against your neighbours, no matter how important that has been historically.

I hope that we can move past that.

Wales do not want to play England because of their poor record.

Since 1879, Wales has lost, drawn, and won in 103 meetings.

The British Home Championship ended in 1984 and the fixture has become rarer.

Mark Hughes scored the only goal 17 minutes into his international debut as Wales beat England for the first time in 25 years.

It was Hughes' debut and he says it was a big deal.

Everything was going very quickly in my career when I broke into the Welsh team and Manchester United's first team.

As soon as the anthem had been played, I ran around and tried to affect the game.

Alan Davies put the ball in after the free-kick. Mick Duxbury missed the ball and I had to head it in.

I thought "goodness me, I have just scored past Peter Shilton" when it went past him. I was not sure what was happening.

I realized that I had just scored on my debut when everybody jumped on me. I was on top of the world from that point on.

It was a game that had a lot of significance for England but not so much for us because we beat them.

We always wanted to beat England.

'An underdog that bites'

It's a sentiment that's prevalent in a lot of Welsh sport.

Although the men's football teams have only met six times in the past 38 years, Wales and England still have an enduring rivalry.

Wales and England are the most successful teams in the history of the Five and Six Nations with 39 titles each.

Hughes can attest to the fact that the two countries often collide.

enna is a hockey player for Wales. The former Wales and Manchester City manager says he sees it in hockey.

England has all the resources. Wales don't have anything and have to pay for it.

There is a feeling of being an underestimation, but we are not.

"We want to give a good account of ourselves and hopefully overcome them because a lot of things are against us, or we have felt in the past that we haven't been able to play against England on an even basis," he said.

We are more than willing to give any England team a bloody nose.

That's the essence of Wales' sporting rivalry with England, it's not just on the field.

Phil Bennett, a former Wales rugby union captain and one of the sport's greatest fly-halves of all time, tapped into that when he delivered an emotional team talk before the England match in 1977.

They've taken a lot of our stuff. They live in our homes for a couple of weeks each year. They have given us something. Bennett spoke at the Arms Park.

The English have exploited, controlled and punished us.

Yes, Wales won that day.

Robert Page might not do the same thing on Tuesday, but the defiant spirit of Bennett's words is still alive in Wales' official song of the World Cup.

The anthem re- recorded for the tournament is a protest song.

It charts the history of Wales from its very beginning, through its 13th-century conquest by the English, to the closing of coal mines in the 1980's, and finally to the present day.

The last time Wales played England at a major tournament, they were in front thanks to a long-range free-kick by Bale.

Wales lost to France in the group stage but bounced back with a thrilling win over Russia.

Wales beat a team ranked higher than them in a competitive match, but that was the last time they beat a team ranked higher than them.

They will need to win against England on Tuesday to have any chance of reaching the knockout stage, as they have done in all three previous tournaments. Wales needs to beat England by four goals.

Wales are used to being the favorite in their rivalry with England. At the moment, Wales are here.

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