As the England camp lurched from crisis to crisis this week ahead of their crucial Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey, Wales manager Mark Hughes could afford a wry smile, except that Hughes has had so many "side issues" in his qualifying campaign he only had sympathy for Sven-Goran Eriksson.

"It is difficult to prepare an international team at the best of times so I understand Sven-Goran Eriksson's position," Hughes said. "This week will have been difficult and I don't envy him because I've had similar."

Although Hughes has never faced a strike threat, he has had ordeals during this qualifying campaign. Such as when Craig Bellamy was at the centre of a tug-of-war between club and country over a knee injury that required him to fly by private jet to Finland at the Football Association of Wales' expense.

Bellamy was also in the spotlight in the run-up to the Italy defeat last month, when Newcastle were moved to describe Hughes as a "disgrace" after an independent medical declared the forward was fit for duty.

Or when the shooting of the Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic caused the visit to Serbia-Montenegro to be postponed from April to August, by which time the Balkan side had rallied under a new manager.

And how about when Robbie Savage had to be released to play for Birmingham against Fulham four days before a rearranged match against Azerbaijan that did not fall on an official FIFA competition date and so had no right to the five-day rule? Savage, almost inevitably, injured himself.

Hughes is grateful that on this occasion there have been no such distractions. "This is one of the easy games," he said of tonight's Millennium Stadium date. "In nearly every game we have had to deal with a side issue and I'm glad we have done without that this time. This is the last game in the group, and we have already achieved something.

"In the past we have had to hope we would come out with something from the last game. We've done it with one game to spare and we may achieve something greater from it."

Hughes would benefit from an Italian slip against Azerbaijan to sneak automatic qualification. That is the unlikeliest of outcomes but this campaign has already seen football disturb Wales' rugby heartlands.

However, Hughes acknowledges that football's ascendancy comes at a time when the peripheral activities of some players will make it difficult to convert disbelievers.

"Everyone has to understand that there is vast media coverage these days," said Hughes. "You have a responsibility to yourself and who you represent. People involved in football who've forgotten that have found problems. I have to trust my players but it's their responsibility to understand their position and how society views them."

Wales captain Gary Speed however hints that his team mates would react as the England squad in the face of perceived intimidation by their FA. "We have sympathy with the England players," he said. "(But) there is harmony in our squad, too, and there always has been."