Three Lions Team Strength Labelled 'Ridiculous' - Welsh Boss Craig Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: England v Wales
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST
The Wales head coach says the English player pool is so impressive that matchmakers would not match them against his Wales side.
Bellamy's men meet their neighbors in a non-competitive match at the national stadium on Thursday before their important qualifying match against Belgium next the following week.
National team coach Thomas Tuchel has omitted the likes of Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish out of his squad for the match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against the Latvian team.
"The English have a incredible squad, similar to the French," the coach said.
"They have a market valuation of £1.4bn, Wales' is £170m. Were you a boxing promoter, you wouldn't put us together. It wouldn't be allowed."
Bellamy says ensuring Wales can face the star-studded rivals is a "key motivation".
The Wales head coach added: "We don't go off market prices, but the reality is England don't just have one team. They possess multiple and the French and others are similarly stacked. They have loads of top talents and that's the honest truth."
"A defender went out with injury the recently and there's only two dozen others to go! They've got 60-odd footballers. I'd love Wales to be well-equipped similarly."
The neighbouring countries last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East, when the English emerged as comfortable 3-0 winners in a fixture before Gareth Southgate's side reached the last eight.
The new manager is Tuchel, a European and Fifa Club World Cup winner at Chelsea who has claimed domestic titles in France and his native Germany.
The Welsh boss was previously an coach at the Belgian side and the English club to Vincent Kompany, who replaced him at Bayern Munich.
"He's an outstanding coach - his record speak for themselves," Bellamy noted.
"I possess some sort of understanding because the club he left I know people who have gone in there. I get a bit of an insight there of his methods and it's remarkable. "
"His tactical detail is top level and I wanted to be up against that - see how you're going to adapt because he adapts too. I can learn from that. I'd love to reach that level."
Welsh Team List
Goalkeepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds United), Davies (Sheffield Utd), King (the Toffees).
Defenders: Ben Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry City), Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Kpakio (Cardiff), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff City), Chris Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Rodon (Leeds United), Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfield: Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (Bournemouth), J. James (Leicester - loaned by Stade Rennais), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Thomas (Stoke City), H. Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff), R. Colwill (Cardiff City).
Forwards: Broadhead (Wrexham), Cullen (Swansea City), Mark Harris (Oxford), Koumas (Birmingham - loaned by the Reds), Johnson (Spurs), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff).
