Bellamy happy to banish bleak predictions after Gareth Bale retirement

Craig Bellamy takes on England this week promising the doom-mongers who predicted Wales “would fall off a cliff” after Gareth Bale retired will be proven wrong.

It is nearly three years since former Real Madrid star Bale – the most capped player and record goalscorer for the Wales men’s national team – played the final game of his career, against England at the 2022 World Cup.

The pair meet for the first time since England’s 3-0 win in Qatar on Thursday as the sides prepare for World Cup qualifying ties with a Wembley friendly.

Wales need to beat Belgium in Cardiff to maintain hopes of topping their group and securing automatic qualification for next summer’s finals and Bellamy – who has lost only two of his 12 games in charge – insists the future is bright for his young team.

‘Falling off a cliff’

Bellamy said: “I was told before this (being appointed Wales manager) that it was all falling off a cliff now. The king (Bale) has gone and he was that.

“But I only saw it as like, ‘No, there’s a lot of good players here’. And you think there’s a lot of good players now?

“Wait until the next couple of years. This machine’s going to get stronger.”

Wales won promotion to Nations League A last autumn as Bellamy began his reign with an unbeaten six-game start – the best by any Dragons manager.

He said: “I want us in there on a consistent basis because that’s where we play the best teams.

“We need to be in tournaments because we play the best teams.

“If we want to be a top football nation, which we’ve flirted with at times, I want us to be able to try and do it all the time.”

Covid

Wales lost 3-0 on their previous trip to Wembley during Covid times five years ago.

The last time Wales played in front of a Wembley crowd was a European Championship qualifier in 2011, with Ashley Young’s first-half winner settling a tight affair against Gary Speed’s side.

Bellamy sat out that game through suspension and Robert Earnshaw missed a glorious late chance to equalise for the visitors.

“I don’t like defeats, but watching the team play the way they did was one of the proudest I’ve been,” said Bellamy.

“I remember Speedo on the side with his chest up and I was like, “Wow”.

“To watch the group of players go to Wembley and dominate like the way they did – and they really did. This is not me trying to spin it. It was definitely that.

“Earnie missed a chance but it was the fact we were able to go to Wembley and play the way he wanted to play.

“That to me always burns and I’d love to be able to have that moment like he had. But maybe with a result going our way.”