Connor Roberts knows Wales may not qualify for every major tournament

Connor Roberts insists it is naive to expect Wales to qualify for every major tournament.

Wales have reached the last two European Championships and the 2022 World Cup after ending a 58-year wait to play at a major tournament.

But making Euro 2024 in Germany next summer was seriously dented by qualifying defeats to Armenia and Turkey in June.

Wales travel to Latvia on Monday knowing victory is essential to maintain hopes of automatic qualification, although being a top-tier team in the last edition of the Nations League will offer them the safety net of a play-off place.

“I think there’s a bit of a determination to not feel like we did after those previous two games,” said Burnley wing-back Roberts, 27, who is set to win his 50th cap at Riga’s Skonto Stadium.

“The only way to not feel like that is to win the game or to play well. It’s just remembering what got us to be performing well and to qualify for big competitions and to win games before.

“That is hard work and dedication, but I think we would be naive to think that we’re going to qualify for every single tournament going forward and win loads of games.

“We are still a small nation in the grand scheme of things. So we have to keep our feet on the ground and realise where we’ve come from.”

Wales have had a difficult 12 months since qualifying for the World Cup by beating Ukraine in a play-off final.

We move on to #TogetherStronger pic.twitter.com/dkULRsrHE3

— Wales