Bellamy urges Wales players to focus on World Cup ahead of their qualifiers against Belgium and Liechtenstein.
Wales head coach Craig Bellamy urges his players to set sights on qualifying for the second World Cup in a row.
Regardless of whether they ended the season “on a trampoline or with a ball around their neck,” Bellamy has stated that his Wales team needs to regroup and concentrate on the World Cup qualifying doubleheader.
Bellamy’s selection for the games against Liechtenstein and Belgium also contains four Leeds players—Karl Darlow, Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, and Daniel James—who recently celebrated promotion to the Premier League. Brennan Johnson and Ben Davies won the Europa League with Tottenham.
The Wales manager said: “It’s a positive [to have winners in the squad]. But when I was at a club, anyone who went away for international football and came back it was: ‘Forget about what you’ve just done. Focus on what we’re doing here. Every meeting, every part of football you thought you’d just learned there, forget about it. Get back on track here.’
“It’s the same here with international football. You’ll have a moment where you can congratulate players and I love them being on a high. But I also have to be responsible for players that perhaps haven’t had the season they would have expected. As well as your egos, everything else is forgotten, it’s not going to serve you here. ‘This is what we do, how we work.’
“You’re in a different world, you need to be in our world and they always are. Whether they’re coming in on a trampoline or with a ball round their neck, off we go.”
On Wednesday, Bellamy announced a 27-man roster for the forthcoming qualifiers, including Ronan Kpakio, an 18-year-old right-back for Cardiff City, who was called up for the first time. Gabriele Biancheri, an 18-year-old striker for Manchester United, who will be joining Canada’s senior squad on Sunday, has no spot.
Although Biancheri, whose father is Italian and his mother is Canadian, has played for Wales at the under-19 level and was present at the country’s most recent training camp in Spain, Bellamy had no intention of including him in his most recent squad. Wales is at ease with the adolescent’s circumstances and is pleased that he is gaining more experience.
Bellamy, who had two spells at Liverpool as a player, said he was shaken by the incident at their title parade on Monday that left 65 people injured. “It’s heartbreaking to go to what should be an incredible moment, the most successful club in England with 20 titles, which was so important,” he said.
“I am a Liverpool fan and to see that happen was incredible. I’m probably like everyone else, I’m still trying to absorb it. Maybe I will in the next few weeks, but it is still quite raw for me.”