Three Lions Team Strength Called 'Ridiculous' - Welsh Manager Craig Bellamy
- Published
International friendly: England v Wales
Venue: Wembley Stadium, the capital Date: October 9th Kick-off: 19:45 BST
Craig Bellamy states the English player pool is so impressive that a boxing promoter would not match them against the Welsh team.
The Welsh squad face England in a non-competitive match at the national stadium on this Thursday before their important qualifying match against the Belgians next Monday.
England manager Tuchel has omitted the such as Bellingham, Foden and Jack Grealish out of his selection for the Wales friendly and their World Cup qualifier against the Latvian team.
"The English have a ridiculous team, like the French," the coach said.
"England have a market valuation of £1.4bn, ours is £170m. Were you a boxing promoter, you would not match us up. It wouldn't be allowed."
Bellamy explains making sure the Welsh team can face the star-studded opponents is a "key motivation".
The Wales head coach continued: "Our team don't go off market prices, but the reality is they don't just have one team. They have two, three, four and the French and other nations are similarly stacked. England have loads of great players and that's a fact."
"One right-back was ruled out with injury the other day and there are two dozen others to choose from! They've got 60-odd players. I'd love us to be well-equipped like them."
These two nations most recently met at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, when England ran out easy victors in a fixture before Gareth Southgate's side made it to the last eight.
Southgate's successor is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and world club winner at Chelsea who has claimed league championships in France and his native Germany.
The Welsh boss was previously an coach at Anderlecht and Burnley to Kompany, who replaced Tuchel at the German giants.
"He's an incredible coach - his record speak for themselves," he added.
"I have some sort of insight because the team he departed I know individuals who have gone in there. I gain a bit of an insight there of how he works and it's very impressive. "
"His tactical detail is elite and I wanted to be facing that - observe how you're going to adapt because he will. I can learn from that. I aspire to reach that level."
Wales Squad List
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds), Adam Davies (Sheffield United), Tom King (Everton).
Defenders: Ben Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry City), B. Davies (Spurs), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff City), Chris Mepham (West Brom), Joe Rodon (Leeds United), Williams (Forest).
Midfielders: Ethan Ampadu (Leeds), Brooks (Bournemouth), Jordan James (Leicester - on loan from Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff).
Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Liam Cullen (Swansea), Mark Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham City - loaned by Liverpool), Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff City).