Three Lions Team Strength Called 'Ridiculous' - Welsh Boss Craig Bellamy
- Published
International friendly: England v Wales
Venue: London's Wembley, the capital Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST
Craig Bellamy states the English player pool is so impressive that a boxing promoter wouldn't match them with his Wales side.
The Welsh squad face England in a non-competitive match at Wembley on Thursday before their crucial qualifying match against Belgium next Monday.
National team coach Thomas Tuchel has left the likes of Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish from his selection for the Wales friendly and their qualifying game against Latvia.
"The English have a ridiculous team, similar to France," the coach remarked.
"England have a transfer market value of £1.4bn, Wales' is 170 million. If you were a fight promoter, you would not put us together. That wouldn't be permitted."
He says making sure Wales can compete with the star-studded opponents is a "driving force".
The Wales head coach continued: "We don't go off values, but the simple fact is they have more than a single lineup. They possess two, three, four and the French and others are similarly stacked. England have loads of great players and that's a fact."
"A defender was ruled out with injury the other day and there are two dozen others to go! They have 60-odd footballers. I'd love Wales to be well-equipped like them."
These two nations last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East, when England emerged as comfortable 3-0 winners in a group match before the previous England team made it to the last eight.
The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a European and Fifa Club World Cup champion at Chelsea who has won domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his native Germany.
The Welsh boss was previously an coach at the Belgian side and Burnley to Kompany, who succeeded Tuchel at Bayern Munich.
"He's an incredible coach - his achievements is proven," he noted.
"I have a degree of insight because the club he left I am familiar with people who have joined. I get a bit of an insight there of how he works and it's remarkable. "
"His tactical detail is top level and I wanted to be up against such a challenge - see how we adjust because he adapts too. I can learn from it. I'd love to reach that level."
Welsh Team Selection
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds), Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (the Toffees).
Backline: Cabango (Swansea), Jay Dasilva (Coventry City), B. Davies (Spurs), Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff), Chris Mepham (West Brom), Rodon (Leeds), Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfield: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), Brooks (the Cherries), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Thomas (Stoke), H. Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff).
Attackers: Broadhead (Wrexham), Liam Cullen (Swansea), Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - loaned by the Reds), Brennan Johnson (Spurs), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff).
