Carrie Jones says Wales’ players are grateful to have Jess Fishlock in the dressing room – if not on the pitch – as they head into a new Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign.
Wales start their bid to reach the 2027 tournament in Brazil when they face the Czech Republic in Uherske Hradiste on Tuesday.
Rhian Wilkinson’s team will have to cope without Wales’ most-capped footballer and all-time leading goalscorer after Fishlock retired from international football last October.
But Fishlock is part of Wales’ preparations as a technical assistant to head coach Wilkinson – and midfielder Jones believes she has a “hugely important” role to play.
“Jess staying on as a coach gives huge experience for us as a team – the player that she is and the experiences that she holds,” Jones said.
“Even as a player, she was always coaching and I was always trying to learn off her and she’s even more that way as a coach – always coaching, always trying to give those extra details.
“I think it says a lot about her that she’s wanting to stay involved and I think we’re all really grateful as a team that she is involved.”
Fishlock has been working with her now former team-mates this week and will travel for what is a testing opening fixture in Group B1.
The Czech Republic have never qualified for a women’s major tournament, but are ranked 31st in the world by Fifa, one place higher than Wales.
Fishlock will leave the Wales squad after Tuesday’s game in order to rejoin Seattle Reign’s preparations for the new National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) season.
Wilkinson’s players, meanwhile, will return home for a second qualifier against Montenegro in Llanelli on Saturday, 7 March.
The start of a long route to the World Cup
Having reached Euro 2025, the first major women’s tournament in the nation’s history, Wales’ next target is to reach a first World Cup.
However, the path to qualification is not simple, with no automatic route available to Wales because they are not in League A.
Assuming they do not finish bottom of a group which also features Albania, Wales will face play-offs late in 2026.
Should Wales finish top of the group, their first-round play-off would be against a side who finish second or third in a League B pool.
But if Wilkinson’s team finish second or third, they would face a side who finish in fourth place in League A or a Group B winner.
The second round of the play-offs is seeded and should Wales get that far, they would be likely to face League A opposition.
Even a win at that stage may not mean Wales’ job is done, because the lowest-ranked of the eight European sides who get through the play-offs will go into inter-confederation play-offs in February 2027. Wales could conceivably be that side.
For the moment, Jones says, Wales’ focus is on making a good start in the group – and they begin with confidence having beaten Switzerland in their most recent international to end a 12-game winless run.
“As a footballer in general to not win for such a long time, I think you take responsibility for that and it can hurt,” said Jones, who plays her club football for Swedish side IFK Norrkoping.
“We always had faith and we knew last year was a challenging year with the opposition we faced. But I think the win against Switzerland definitely gave us some confidence going into this campaign.”
