Their thrilling3-1 victory in Lille over Belgium - Europe's top team in the world rankings -brought a belated aura of excitement and drama to the bloated and hithertolacklustre finals.
Goals from skipperAshley Williams, striker Hal Robson-Kanu and substitute Sam Vokes also ensuredthe players status alongside the heroes of 1958, the one and only previousoccasion on which Wales had reached a major finals.
That was in Swedenat the 1958 World Cup. But even then legendary heroes of the Welsh game such asJohn Charles, Ivor Allchurch and Jack Kelsey reached 'only' the quarter-finals.
Now Wales, a teamrepresenting a principality of 3m people, are in the last four while the likesof Spain, Croatia, Poland, Russia not to mention England have all left forhome. Next challenge is Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, in Lyon on Wednesday.
Victory overBelgium, who were virtually a home team in Lille, was highly emotional.Players, some in tears, and staff remained on the pitch long after the finalwhistle, savouring what may be he most glorious moment in the careers of many.Fans who remained burst into the national anthem, Land of My Fathers, singingit as only the Welsh can.
The only downsideto victory was the knowledge that solid central defender Ben Davies and Arsenalmidfielder Aaron Ramsey will miss the semi-final after collecting secondtournament yellow cards.
The entiretournament will be the poorer for their absence since Ramsey, in particular,may never have played better for his country than against Belgian team whoultimately lacked the discipline and psychological capacity to hold on to theearly lead provided by a magnificent strike from Radja Nainggolan.
Wales managerChris Coleman called it "the greatest night of my career."
He added:"You dream about nights like this and never think you'll be good enough orlucky enough to be involved in an experience like that. It's indescribable,really.
"Four yearsago we were as far away from it as you could be. It's a great example byeverybody, staff and players, of what can happen if you believe and work hardand, yes, have a bit of talent.
"Now we findourselves in an incredible position and we are enjoying every minute ofit."
Certainly notenjoying anything was Belgian manager Marc Wilmots who said he will let thedust settle after Belgium's quarter-final upset at Euro 2016 before decidingwhether he will stay on to lead the Red Devils into the World Cup qualifiers inthe autumn.
The Belgian coachblamed defeat on injuries, inexperience and an inexplicable complacency. He wasnot in the mood, afterwards, to accept any blame himself.
Reviewing thematch and the sharp first-half change of fortune, Wilmots said: "We had agood start because for the first 25 minutes we played an excellent match, tookthe lead and dominated Wales but then, out of nowhere, we dropped back 15yards."
Wilmots was upsetat the loss through injury of experienced defenders Jan Vertonghen and ThomasVermaelen. Deputies Jason Denayer and Jordan Lukaku had nights to forget.
He said: "I'mnot a magician. You can't replace experience. I had a defence with an averageage of 23. It's too young. They need to be a well-oiled machine but we had toreplace 50pc of our back line so I can understand conceding a goal from a setpiece, something we havent done for 30 matches.
"Then maybethere was also an element of fear because they are young players."
"As for me, Ishall decide after the European Championship is all over. I won't make adecision straight after the game when everything is still raw. I'm going tothink about it."
