World Cup 2022: Wales exit Qatar

As Wales players and staff shared a moment with their fans after Tuesday's loss to England, there was a sense of an ending more profound than the usual one.

Wales' first World Cup in 64 years was the culmination of a long held dream.

It felt like the end of an era when this dream-like state faded to black under a desert night sky.

Wales has never been so great. For a long time, Welsh football had been synonymous with narrow misses and long spells of failure.

The World Cup felt like a relic of a past that was too far away to comprehend.

The golden generation emerged first as teenagers under John Toshack's guidance in the late 2000s and then under Gary Speed's guidance at Euro 2016 with Chris Coleman.

In France, Wales ended their 58-year wait for a major tournament and then took the country to a new level with a first semi-finals.

After qualification for a second successive European Championship, a second World Cup was elusive for the rest of the group.

The adventure is over after three games in the Middle East.

As Robert Page and his players applauded the Red Wall, the mutual love and respect was striking. The groundswell of national pride that saw Wales back on this stage was nothing short of amazing.

As well as taking the time to look back, Wales must now consider what will happen in the future.

Wales can feel proud to have qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 64 years, but they can also be disappointed with their performance in the tournament.

Wales have risen to the challenge in all three of their previous major tournaments to reach the knockout stages but it proved beyond them here.

One of the most striking reasons for their failure was the fading lustre of an older generation.

Bale has been the face of Welsh football for more than a decade and is considered to be the greatest player to have come from Wales.

Ramsey and Allen were included in Uefa's official team of the tournament for Euro 2016 and have been an important part of the Welsh renaissance.

They were pale imitations of their former selves.

Although Bale and Ramsey started all three matches, their club form and lack of match fitness caught up with them in the Middle East, as evidenced by Allen's limited involvement.

Bale and Allen were forced to leave the game at half-time due to injuries, with Allen limping off at the end of the game. It felt like undignified ways to leave the World Cup for two of Welsh football's greatest players.

Bale, who is 33, has already stated his desire to continue playing for Wales, while Allen, 32, and Ramsey, 32, have yet to make a decision.

Even if they can help Wales play at a fourth major tournament out of five, their country cannot count on them for the rest of their lives.

After the England game, Page said he wouldn't make a call on that.

We've got games in March that are difficult. If there are young players out there that we need to promote, now is the time to do it.

As Wales fell short in Qatar, Page had a role to play.

Since succeeding Ryan Giggs, the former centre-back has been praised for guiding Wales to the second round at Euro 2020 and taking his country to a first World Cup for 64 years.

The performances have been wavering for a while. Wales have won two of their 12 matches this year, but they were not convincing in their victories over Austria and Ukraine.

As long as Bale kept conjuring his moments of brilliance and Wales kept grinding out results, those lackluster displays were not a big deal.

In the opening game against the United States, Page got his team selection and tactics wrong, but at the half he made up for it and helped Wales get a late point.

He said "lessons had been learned" after that escape but then started the next game against Iran in the same formation with only one personnel change and Wales fell to a dismal 2-0 defeat that all but ended their hopes of reaching the knockout stage.

He abandoned his three-at-the-back system for a 4-2-3-1 for the final group game against England. Wales kept the game goalless until the half-time break, but their tired players were too much for them to overcome.

It is an amazing achievement for that group of players to get here in the first place.

We keep building on that. There's more to this than meets the eye. Things have to be seen in a different way. We don't have the talent that England has.

They'll do well in the tournament, that's for sure. It is an accomplishment for us.

After missing out on the World Cup for the first time, Wales were overjoyed to qualify for the tournament.

It would be a disservice to Wales to simply bask in the glory of previous achievements and not scrutinize the performances.

As a nation in a sporting context or otherwise, Wales has never enjoyed a global audience like the one it has enjoyed at this World Cup and, as we have heard from players, fans and politicians, this is a country that wants to project a vibrant and self-assured image of itself to

There should be demands that the historic new standards are maintained and that the qualification for the World Cup should be something to aspire to.

It is understandable that Wales fans are disappointed at the way the team was eliminated, but they should not repeat how proud they were to see their team at the World Cup.

Wales will always be grateful for that and what has happened before. There is still a hope that there will be more.

• Fifa World Cup: Groups and schedule
• World Cup TV coverage guide

Get the latest results and goal notifications for any team at the Fifa World Cup by downloading the BBC Sport app: Apple - Android - Amazon

You can get a daily dose of the World Cup on the radio.