World Cup dream is still alive despite loss to Belgium, Wales manager Bellamy says
BRUSSELS, June 10 (Reuters) - Wales manager Craig Bellamy said his side are still on track to qualify for the World Cup despite slipping from top spot in their group following a 4-3 defeat in Belgium on Monday.
The clash in Brussels would have been marked down as Wales' toughest test in Group J and it looked like the writing was on the wall when they were three goals down inside the first half-hour.
But Bellamy's side fought back to level at 3-3 and looked good for a surprise point before Kevin De Bruyne snatched a late winner for the hosts.
"To come to a top-eight team and play the way we want to play. I think the Belgian players saw it as well," said Bellamy, who lost his first game as Wales manager after 10 matches in charge.
"We aren't going anywhere. I will have a couple of weeks now of recharging, but I'm beyond proud and really excited about the future."
Wales have seven points from four matches in their group and are at the halfway stage of their campaign.
North Macedonia top the standings with eight points, but Belgium, on four points, have played only two fixtures.
The group winner qualifies automatically for next year's finals in North America, while the runners-up go into a playoff competition.
Wales next travel to fourth-placed Kazakhstan in September and then have a return clash with the Belgians in Cardiff in October.
Sorba Thomas, who scored his first international goal for Wales on Monday, said their second-half performance showed what kind of a team they are.
"Even though we lost the game, I feel like we won it in our own heads," he added.
"Against countries like this, you'll be punished. I can't wait to play these when we get back to Cardiff."
Wales reached the quarter-final of the 1958 World Cup and did not qualify again until the last finals in Qatar in 2022, where they finished bottom of their group.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
37 minutes ago
- Reuters
Part one complete as Popovic's Australia lock up World Cup berth
June 11 (Reuters) - Tony Popovic was already thinking about the improvements Australia needed to make for next year's World Cup finals soon after they sealed automatic qualification with a gritty 2-1 win in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Popovic took over as coach last September after the Socceroos made a poor start to the third round of Asian qualifying and has overseen five wins and three draws to book a ticket to North America. "Very, very satisfying right now, I'm sure it'll sink in as the days go by," he said shortly after the final whistle at Jeddah's King Abdullah Sports City. "It's been a very intense period since I've joined and I've loved it so far. We've done the first part, qualifying automatically, and now the next part is to be bigger and better for the World Cup." After beating Group C winners Japan 1-0 with a late goal in Perth last week, the Socceroos only needed to avoid a 5-0 loss to the Saudis to take their place in the finals for a sixth straight edition. They got the job done despite going a goal down in front of a hostile crowd, watching a Saudi player have a red card rescinded by VAR, and conceding a late penalty. Goalkeeper Mat Ryan, who was winning his 100th cap, saved the penalty to ensure that goals from Connor Metcalfe and Mitch Duke either side of halftime would give Australia all three points. "To do it here in this atmosphere, you've got to deal with the weather as well, and it's not easy to show that character resilience and then quality, to come back and actually take the lead and win the game," said Popovic. "For Matty Ryan, his career speaks for itself and there's a lot more for him to achieve ... but it's a day he'll never forget." Former centre half Popovic was a member of the Australia squad that reached the last 16 of the World Cup for the first time in 2006, a feat matched by Graham Arnold's team in Qatar three years ago. The 2006 squad had flair as well as the famed Australian resilience, and the task for Popovic over the next year is to build a team that can play a bit as well as fight. "We've built a good foundation now, and we want to really get better, get better kick on and try and do something special the World Cup," he said. "We need to play games to keep improving, giving other players that deserve it an opportunity and then we want to be a squad that's much better than what we are now. I think that's the expectation we should have."
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
The 10 breakthrough stars you must know about before they light up the 2026 World Cup
The 2026 World Cup is just a year away and attention is already turning to those stars who will light up the first 48-team tournament. But we've all heard of Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe and , and know they will be ones to watch. Who are the under-the-radar rising stars who you should really know about?
Rhyl Journal
2 hours ago
- Rhyl Journal
England ‘not good enough' but won't panic
Three days on from an underwhelming 1-0 World Cup qualifying win over Andorra, Thomas Tuchel's side were again booed off by fans. Goals from Ismaila Sarr, Habib Diarra and Cheikh Sabaly inflicted England's first defeat to an African nation following Kane's early opener at the City Ground in Nottingham. 'Again, not really good enough,' Kane told ITV Sport. 'We had again moments; just with and without the ball we aren't quite clicking, aren't quite finding the right passes, finding the right tempo. 'One v one, we're losing duels, we're losing just that aggressive nature that we've had and we got punished, we're playing against a good side. We just weren't good enough today. 'We're not going to panic. But for sure we know we need to do better.' Defeat for the #ThreeLions against Senegal in Nottingham. — England (@England) June 10, 2025 England thought they had levelled late on through Jude Bellingham but his effort was ruled out on review for an adjudged handball by Levi Colwill. 'If you know the rules, it's not handball,' said Kane. 'It obviously puts us back in the game at 2-2 and maybe we go on and win the game so it is quite a big moment. 'But that's something to discuss with them (the match officials) afterwards.' Defeat for England was a first in four matches since the appointment of manager Tuchel. The German coach, who was unhappy with the decision of French referee Stephanie Frappart to disallow Bellingham's effort, said: 'Of course, a disappointing result, not sure if we did not maybe deserve a little bit more result-wise. 'But I felt again we were a little bit frozen, not active enough for a long time of the match. '(We) defended quite well for a long period in the first half, then our best period came when we were 2-1 down. 'We conceded the first two goals, very easy goals that we need to defend better. 'The reaction was good after we were down. I felt suddenly we were more active, more free, more fluid, more aggressive towards the opponent's goal. 'We had big chances to equalise, we 'equalised' (Bellingham's disallowed effort) and couldn't get the last one.'
