Wales have new mindset under Bellamy

Yahoo

3 days ago

World Cup qualifier: Belgium v Wales
Venue: King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels Date: Monday, 9 June Kick off: 19:45 BST
Coverage: Live on BBC One, S4C, iPlayer, BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, the BBC Sport website and app, plus live text commentary.
Advertisement
Wales have a new mentality under Craig Bellamy, according to a player who watched him help do the same at club level.
Connor Roberts was part of the Burnley team that stormed the Championship as Bellamy assisted manager Vincent Kompany on their way to the title.
Now the full-back is part of a Wales side enjoying an unbeaten start to Bellamy's first senior role as manager and its renewed ambition to reach the 2026 World Cup.
Bellamy's team saw off group minnows Liechtenstein 3-0 in Cardiff on Friday, teeing up Monday's trip to qualification favourites Belgium.
The 45-year-old has already stated Wales will take the game to the top seeds, while midfielder David Brooks says the team will be heading to Brussels to go for the win.
Advertisement
Asked whether it showed a mindset shift from past Wales sides, 62-cap Roberts said: "Yes is the straightforward answer.
"The manager has come in – and obviously I know him from his time at Burnley – and we will go toe-to-toe with any team.
"I'm not saying we'll win every single game but one thing is for sure, we will give everything and try and do the right things and try and win every game we play."
Wales eased to a win over Liechtenstein with goals from Joe Rodon, Kieffer Moore and Harry Wilson, and Roberts added: "Of course it's big switch to go from playing Liechtenstein to Belgium, but we have to keep being ourselves and not change, keep the good habits that we've been learning and trying to integrate over the last nine months, do what we need to do to win the game.
Advertisement
"And why can't we go [to Belgium] and dominate and put in a really good performance? That is the aim, that is the plan and hopefully we can achieve that."
Bellamy has publicly spoken about not wanting to be seen as underdogs, a message clearly heard by players as they gear up for a key game in the campaign.
Wales lead Group J after two wins and a draw from their opening three games.
And their comfortable night in Cardiff against Liechtenstein was made even more enjoyable with news of Belgium conceding late to draw in North Macedonia in their opening fixture.
It saw Belgium manager Rudi Garcia tell reporters his side "have to win" against Wales.
Advertisement
But Bournemouth's Brooks says Wales haven't changed their thoughts because of the result in Skopje.
"We fancied ourselves from minute one," Brooks said. "It's not as though we felt Belgium needed to slip up for us to have a chance, we were going to go there and try and win anyway.
"We both dropped points [in North Macedonia] but they're not a pushover team. We will be going to Belgium to try and get three points."