When Craig Bellamy was announced as Wales’ new head coach in the summer of 2024, he had an overriding mission – not just a personal ambition, but one that his new employers really wanted and needed. Lead Wales to the 2026 World Cup finals.
Hopes and expectations are more aligned than ever. Wales have appeared in three World Cups and Euros in the past nine years, so the desire to just qualify for major tournaments is somewhat tempered.
Standards have improved significantly on and off the pitch. Rewind 10 years and Wales had the best player in the world in Gareth Bale tormenting opponents. Success has come, more money and investment has come and the Welsh national team is now spread out across the Premier League with vast resources.
Yes, there’s no Bale, but there’s an argument or a good fan argument that the overall strength of depth in the Wales team is stronger now. Barring injuries or suspensions, Wales are almost likely to use Premier League players or players who play in the top flight in their starting XI.
Wales achieved a good result against North Macedonia and can raise hopes of advancing to the play-offs.
And then there’s Bellamy. He follows the overall success of Wales managers Chris Coleman, Ryan Giggs and Rob Page, and progress is being made.
Bellamy is not a coach at the end of his career who wants to stay in football, he is young, fiercely enthusiastic and energetic, and his background and experience as assistant to Vincent Kompany epitomizes the complete modern coach. We are accustomed to the knowledge, attention to detail, resources, data and professional behavior that rivals the giants of Europe’s top clubs.
It’s not just a hope, it’s an expectation. Wales are preparing on and off the pitch for their participation in major tournaments. FAW’s chief executive in 2025 will take on a role that would have been unrecognizable a generation ago, as the country has invested in men’s soccer teams at least at Euro 2016, Euro 2020 and World Cup 2022, hosted the Champions League final and is currently hosting the opening match of Euro 2028. Investment is flowing throughout the elite men’s and women’s soccer world, and FAW and the public are loving it. Success is a great thing.
Injured Ben Davies ruled out of Wales squad
So we need 90 minutes of football to keep everything going. Seven games have been completed so far in the World Cup qualifiers, with one remaining. Automatic qualification to next year’s World Cup is possible, but they must win with 90 minutes left in qualifying, which is virtually unlikely given that Belgium would need to lose at home to Liechtenstein to do so.
A path to the play-offs gives Wales the best chance of heading to North America. They will probably face an equally or lower ranked team in the home semifinals next March. Wales would think so too.
Wales were not at their best in their match against Liechtenstein over the weekend and it was a tough match. Although they completely dominated possession, there was little creativity to distinguish the “parked bus” in front of the opponent’s goal. They were just about to finish the job when the question arose as to how Wales would differentiate North Macedonia. They are a very decent team, well organized and their game plan is simple. A draw will suffice, so don’t expect an open, end-to-end, noisy match. It has all the hallmarks of a close, tense match where perhaps just one goal separates the two teams.
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Harry Wilson says he dreamed of one day becoming Wales captain and says it’s a real honour to be given the armband.
Bellamy believes he has the talent to fill the void left by Tottenham’s injury to Ben Davies and the suspension of Ethan Ampadu and Jordan James. He wants to have them and their absence is a big loss for Wales, but he has options on this occasion, perhaps against North Macedonia and their ambitions that night.
Bellamy said he expected North Macedonia to defend deep and be compact, but was wary of a quick transition to a counter-attack. Don’t associate Wales’ possession of the ball with a sign that all is well. North Macedonia don’t care if Wales have the ball or not, they only care if Wales are extending the ball and creating near-guilt chances.
There’s a simple solution to what can be, on paper, a very nerve-wracking night for Wales, to make it less stressful. The key is to accumulate points quickly. Increase pressure on North Macedonia. Scoring early and controlling matches hasn’t always been Wales’ strong suit during this qualifying period, but if they ever had that moment…
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Wales head coach Craig Bellamy criticized VAR after their side lost 4-2 to Belgium in a World Cup qualifier.
Prior to the match, Bellamy issued one more warning. He is very wary of the impact of VAR. We’ve all seen different interpretations, but what he doesn’t like is when the game is stopped for a few minutes and a VAR check changes the course of play because of a loss of momentum. With so much at stake, it would be a shame to see VAR become a hot topic after the game.
