HERE we go again...

Gutsy as Wales performances were in the 0-0 draw with Bosnia Herzegovina and the 2-1 win against Cyprus, it is surely too early in the Euro 2016 campaign to start talking about booking tickets for the finals in France?

But the eternal optimists have been out in force this week, talking up Wales' best chance of reaching the finals of a major international football tournament since 1463. Or maybe it just feels like that long ago.

It is amazing what a decent draw and a win over one of European football's lesser lights can do. But we have seen it all before.

Back in 1993 of course, there was World Cup qualifying group heartbreak in the final match against Romania at the old National Stadium after a thrilling campaign, and the Euro 2004 qualifying group was equally enthralling, Wales's run only brought to an end in a two-legged play-off against Russia.

I remember trudging back to the car park after the second and home leg of that match at the Millennium Stadium in November 2003, won 1-0 on the night and on aggregate by the Russians, and thinking that would be it for Wales for at least another decade.

That has turned out to be a pretty accurate estimate. Eleven years have passed during which Wales have sunk fairly low in global football terms, the occasional decent result offset by several distinctly underwhelming ones.

Of course, the goalposts have been shifted for this tournament thanks to the expansionist ambitions of UEFA top dog Michel Platini, who has presided over a plan to expand the finals to 24 teams, meaning the top two from each group and the best third placed team will qualify automatically, with the remaining third placed teams facing a play-off.

Detractors believe that this will dilute the quality of the finals tournament. That remains to be seen, but if the early rounds of matches are anything to judge by, it seems to have upped the excitement of the group stages.

Suddenly, nations such as Wales have a genuine chance of qualifying for the finals of a high profile tournament.

Scotland and Northern Ireland appear to have seized the opportunity too, and further afield, Iceland are ruffling the feathers of Europe's established football elite, their latest victims being those perennial reachers-of-finals the Netherlands.

So yes, the greater opportunity to qualify can be interpreted as making things easier - but you still have to put yourselves in with a chance, and Wales have certainly done that.

The match against Bosnia Herzegovina was one of the more gripping 0-0 draws of recent times, while the win against Cyprus with 10 men for much of the second half was dramatic and encouraging.

There is a long and distinguished list of top Welsh players who down the years have missed out on playing in the finals of an international tournament, and Gareth Bale is the latest to try to break that hoodoo, along with Aaron Ramsey.

Getting the best 11 players out on the pitch at the same time of course, remains the biggest challenge, and Wales were depleted during these two most recent matches. That they have emerged in a strong position in their group is thus another plus.

The pessimist in me - the one who whooped and cheered with his six/seven year-old son and the masses at the Millennium Stadium during the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign - is hardened by that disappointment. And that six/seven year-old is now approaching 19 and long since lost to the 'dark side' of rugby union.

That pessimist looks at the prospect of Wales having still to travel to Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina and Israel and advises caution, and for the moment, he is in the ascendant. But the flame of optimism is beginning to burn a little brighter.

One other thing. If I were top brass at the Football Association of Wales, I would be making low key inquiries about the availability of the Millennium Stadium for home matches in the latter stages of this qualifying campaign.

The Cardiff City Stadium is fine, but we have seen the passion and enthusiasm generated by the Wales football team before, and however good the atmosphere, it will simply not be big enough to house those who wish to roar their team on at the business end of things next autumn.

Arrangements for venues in competitions like this tend to be rather fixed, the suggestion of a little flexibility to respond to changing situations usually met with a firm "no-can-do."

If Wales are still in with a shout of qualifying come next summer, that really won't do. It's time to come up with a Plan B.