World Cup play-offs: Wales' 1958 tale of politics, show tunes and triumph in Israel

The last time Wales were in the World Cup play-offs, it would be the best place to start to understand how significant it is.

When Wales traveled to Israel 64 years ago, they turned up without any balls, a far cry from the modern-day international football operation that Bale and his team-mates will enjoy when they face Austria on Thursday.

Jimmy Murphy, Matt Busby's assistant at Manchester United, had to prepare his side for the first leg in Tel Aviv with fitness sessions because of the oversight.

Phil Stead is the author of Red Dragons, a book about the history of Welsh football.

The players would say the selectors would come out with them, but they didn't know who some of the players were. It was a jolly experience for the councillors and their wives.

To be fair to the Football Association of Wales, international football was not as big as it is now.

It is clear when you look at the Wales campaign.

The 1958 tournament in Sweden was the best chance for Wales to qualify for the World Cup since 1950, with a stellar generation of players including Ivor Allchurch and Cliff Jones.

In their opening game, Wales beat Czechoslovakia by a single goal, though they were grouped with Czechia and East Germany.

Things started to fall apart from that point.

Wales were good enough to win the group, but the preparation was shocking.

There were almost as many politicians on the plane as there were players, when Wales went away for a double-header against Czechoslovakia and East Germany.

The FAW had money after the war and there was a boom. We had a good side and the FAW had the money, but they didn't want to spend it.

In East Germany, Wales took the lead in front of a crowd of over 100,000 people.

Due to injury and illness, Wales had just 10 players for their next match, and the amateur home side fought back to win.

Even then, they were reluctant to call up more players and eventually got Ray Daniel from his holidays.

He had to get new boots because he didn't have his boots.

Wales lost 2-0 and Daniel scored an own goal. He was reprimanded by Herbert Powell for singing a popular show tune on the bus and was never selected again.

The qualification hopes of Wales were ruined. They thought they had been eliminated despite beating East Germany.

Israel had unique circumstances that gave Wales a second chance.

Turkey withdrew from Israel's Asian group because they thought they should have been in Europe. Indonesia pulled out as they did not want to play in Tel Aviv, before Egypt refused to face Israel.

Israel was left as group winners by default, but they couldn't qualify for the World Cup without playing a single game.

Israel would play home and away against a team from Europe that had finished second in their groups.

According to legend, the Jules Rimet trophy was placed in the hands of Belgium, who refused to face Israel on political grounds.

Wales was next up. Any objections? Absolutely not.

It was a big boost for us because we thought we had missed out.

It was political because many countries didn't want to play against Israel.

The FAW did not share the same political concerns as other associations.

Looking at the political situation at the time and British relationship with Israel was not surprising.

The FAW at the time were a very British organisation, very royalist, and it would have been unlikely they would have wanted to upset the Israelis.

Israel was delighted to host Wales for the first leg in January of 1958.

Jones says they had a great welcome.

Every Wales player received a crate of Jaffa oranges as a gift.

The British Ambassador hung bunches of leeks around the embassy to make the team feel at home.

Although the lack of balls at training made preparations far from ideal, Wales won the first leg 2-0 thanks to goals from Allchurch and Dave Bowen.

The return leg was played at Ninian Park three weeks later.

They went to the cinema on Queen Street and had a great time because foreign travel was not as common as it is now.

Allchurch opened the scoring before Jones added a second to seal qualification for Wales.

It was special to know we were going to the World Cup, as we thought we had missed out.

I played with Ivor for many seasons at the old Vetch Field.

He was one of the greats of Welsh football. It was fitting that he would play in the World Cup.

Murphy missed a match as an assistant manager at Manchester United because he was at the second leg.

On the night of 6 February, 1958, United were travelling back from a European Cup game against Red Star Belgrade via Munich when their plane crashed on the runway. There were 23 deaths caused by the air disaster in Munich.

As well as helping Matt Busby rebuild his club, Murphy was tasked with leading Wales at their first World Cup later that year.

The newspaper reports of the era were not very positive about Wales, but they did make it to the quarter-finals despite being in a group with Hungary, Sweden and Mexico.

Jones says that they were written off and proved them wrong.

We proved we deserved to be at that level. We performed well and were knocked out by Brazil.

We had heard of players like Vava and Didi, but there was a young kid called Pele.

It was amazing to see how skilled this young boy was. We asked who this kid was. Who is he?

It was a very special moment to see the emergence of possibly the greatest footballer of all time. We knew that he was going to be the top.

In a game that Wales were without injured talisman John Charles, Brazil scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win.

Wales has only appeared in the World Cup. Their qualification for Euro 2016 ended a 58-year absence from major finals, but they still haven't won a second World Cup.

The current side are hoping to take another step towards ending their 64-year wait when they host Austria in a World Cup play-off semi-final.

Jones thinks they will perform and surprise one or two people, like they did in 1958.

It was always special for me and many others to wear the red shirt of Wales and I am sure that still applies to the young men of Wales today.

I know that Bale plays at the highest club level but for him to play in a World Cup would mean a lot because he is a Welsh boy.

It is great to see Wales having an opportunity to perform at that level.