How we have longed for this week to come.

Yes, there have been troubles and disasters across the world, and you have to feel for the people of Ukraine at this moment in time.

But our main focus has to be on preparing for the massive game on Thursday night. The conflict has had a huge effect on everyone and certainly it has affected the team’s preparations. But if anything, it has made us more determined that life goes on, and we have to take this important step closer to the World Cup this week.

This squad is coming of age. They are fulfilling their potential by living their dream, and ours. There is a World Cup ahead of them and this opportunity has taken 64 years to reach us – and boy are they ready.

Speaking with Paul Bodin, my ex-team mate who missed the all-important penalty versus Romania when we went so close in 1994, he said that Rob Page hasn’t has his head turned at all. He’s been in contact with all the players throughout the four months since the match against Belgium in November. Pressure is a privilege someone said recently, and it’s so true.

This is not a dress rehearsal; this is for real. The Cardiff City Stadium has become a cauldron for the opposition for a few years now, with our great support. The feeling I have every time they step onto the field is euphoria and pride, of our country coming together.

Austria will never have experienced the togetherness and relationship that our supporters and players share. It is relentless.

Onto the game. Many think that Rob Page will have big decisions to make with his team selection, but I don’t see it that way. Apart from Joe Morrell’s suspension, the team picks itself.

You can’t buy the experience and levels of performance that Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey offer, and the standards they set for the rest of the team. Everyone strives to be as good as them, and that is no disrespect to the rest. That’s why they will play, irrespective of how much they’ve played for their clubs recently.

You’re talking about elite players and this might be their biggest ever for their country. This issue of Gareth and Aaron not having enough minutes for their clubs is not new, we have seen it a lot over the past few years. But they never let our country down.

I know and understand how Harry Wilson and Brennan Johnson are doing for their clubs at the moment, and they will get their opportunities. But at present, they are apprentices to these two, Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale.

Austria’s biggest threat will be Marko Arnautovic, the ex-West Ham striker, who is into his mid-thirties by now. He is a big player for big occasions. David Alaba, who plays for Real Madrid, likes to get on the ball and he’s pretty creative, so we can’t give him time to get his head up and run the game. And Marcel Sabitzer, who is in and out of the Bayern Munich team, is a good player at his best.

But who would you really want in your team? Their best players, or our best players?

We have to stay calm, stay focused, and stay in the zone. Play the game and not the occasion, they say. And taste the glory when we win, because that’s what is going to happen.

So sit down, strap up and enjoy the ride. This will be a roller-woah-ster! Wales to win two or three nil, and take us that step closer to the promised land.

Malcolm Allen is a part of S4C’s Sgorio team. Watch Wales v Austria live on S4C & S4C Clic from 7.20pm on Thursday night. Sgorio will also show live coverage of Wales’ match on Tuesday 29 March to raise funds for the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, from 7.25pm. Live coverage of Haverfordwest v Connah’s Quay will also be shown on S4C from 2.45pm on Saturday. Follow @sgorio on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for the latest Welsh football news