Turkey boss admits Wales under Craig Bellamy ‘hard to prepare’ for

Vincenzo Montella admits Turkey are in the dark over Wales’ tactics under Craig Bellamy.

Turkey played Wales twice in Euro 2024 qualifying last year – winning 2-0 at home and drawing 1-1 away.

But the Dragons have since replaced Rob Page with Bellamy, who takes charge for the first time in Friday’s Nations League B fixture at Cardiff City Stadium.

“They have a new squad with a new head coach and tactically wise we don’t how the match will be,” said former Italy striker Montella, whose final game as a Fulham player in May 2007 was a 1-0 win over a Liverpool side that included Bellamy.

“It’s hard to prepare for this. But we will do our best and give our utmost even if we don’t have enough information.

“Bellamy was the assistant coach at Burnley with Vincent Kompany but we do not have enough details, so we don’t how to anticipate yet.”

Turkey are without new Brighton full-back Ferdi Kadioglu, who misses out with a hamstring strain.

Montella suggested that skipper Hakan Calhanoglu may also not be ready to start after suffering a knock, although he confirmed that Real Madrid’s Arda Guler had trained and is fit.

Inter Milan midfielder Calhanoglu was named on the Ballon d’Or 30-man shortlist on Wednesday.

Confident

Turkey have travelled in confident mood after reaching the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 this summer and climbing 16 places to 26 in the latest FIFA rankings, their highest position since 2017.

Montella said: “This is a new adventure and it is really important to win these Nations League games.

“It is a ticket for the World Cup and we have players playing at high levels in Europe representing us.

“We should be happy with but we know Wales have some players from the Premier League who are really quick.

“This is a difficult stadium and the last time Wales were a bit better than us, so we have to play well on Friday.”