Gareth Bale admits Wales can use the heartbreak from their Nations League campaign to date to their benefit at the World Cup later this year.
Wales qualified for the Qatar tournament by beating Ukraine in the play-off final earlier this month. However, that crunch fixture at Cardiff City Stadium came in between four Nations League matches, with Rob Page's men gaining just one point from those outings.
The Red Dragons fielded an experimental side against Poland in a bid to ensure their key stars were fit to face Ukraine while they conceded at the death in both of their matches against Netherlands having drawn level late on themselves in both games. And Bale has revealed he told his fellow Wales stars that they deserve to be playing on the biggest stages of international football as a result of their efforts in June.
READ MORE: Netherlands 3-2 Wales: Rob Page's men suffer more late heartache despite Johnson and Bale goals
"It's hard to take but I'd rather this happen now and we address it than it happen at the World Cup," he told S4C. "We have to use these Nations League games to improve and get better.
"Of course we all know what happened but how can we stop that happening now? We can try and address it rather than being stuck at the World Cup.
"I was saying in the changing room just then, we're in League A in the Nations League playing big teams. Of course we are disappointed we conceded, but we were in the game the whole 90 minutes. We're competing with these big teams in every game and it's just the fine details we need to iron out.
"If we can get them ironed out in the next two games, it will put us in a good space for the World Cup."
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Goals from Noa Lang and Cody Gakpo put Louis van Gaal's men 2-0 up in Rotterdam before Brennan Johnson netted his second goal for his country in as many matches. Bale converted from the penalty spot in injury-time after Connor Roberts was fouled as the points looked to be shared.
But as they did a week earlier in Cardiff, Wales conceded deep into additional time, with Memphis Depay firing beyond Wayne Hennessey to earn the hosts all three points at De Kuip.
Wales return to action against Belgium and Poland in September before facing the United States of America, Iran and England in the group stages of the World Cup in November.
