Wales is on the verge of advancing to its first major soccer championship in 46 years.
After Saturday's goalless draw in Moscow, the Welsh are edgy but confident going into Wednesday's second leg Euro 2004 playoff against Russia in Cardiff.
"We must get very careful that we do not get ahead of ourselves now," Wales coach Mark Hughes said.
"After Saturday's match the lads were delighted with the level of performance, but everyone knows it is only halfway. We have had false dawns before but we do not want any more glorious failures."
Russia coach Georgy Yartsev said his players were calm.
"A nervous, emotionally strung-up person is incapable of an adequate assessment of what has happened," Yartsev said. "We showed what we were capable of," he added.
"We did not play defensive soccer. We were playing for the victory. There are not many chances in such tense matches, but we had them. Alas, we did not capitalize on them."
Wales hasn't played in a major tournament finals since the 1958 World Cup.
Wales missed out on the 1994 World Cup when Paul Bodin missed a penalty in the final qualifier against Romania. Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs, who played in that match, said Monday he didn't want a repeat.
"That was a bitter memory," he said. "I do not want to go through that again. And what happened afterwards was that Wales went into decline, we must not allow that to happen again either."
Giggs will be investigated by European governing body UEFA for his clash with Russian defender Vadim Evseev in Saturday's game. The Russian Soccer Union alleges Giggs elbowed Evseev in the face midway through the second half.
RSU president Vyacheslav Koloskov said the incident "clearly violates the principles of fair play."
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