Three Lions Squad Strength Called 'Ridiculous' - Welsh Boss Craig Bellamy
- Published
International friendly: Wales vs England
Venue: London's Wembley, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST
The Wales head coach says the English player pool is remarkable that a boxing promoter wouldn't match them against his Wales side.
The Welsh squad face England in a friendly at the national stadium on Thursday before their important qualifying match against Belgium next Monday.
England manager Tuchel has omitted the likes of Bellingham, Foden and Jack Grealish out of his selection for the match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against the Latvian team.
"The English have a ridiculous team, similar to France," the coach said.
"England have a market valuation of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is £170m. Were you a fight promoter, you wouldn't match us up. It wouldn't be allowed."
Bellamy explains making sure the Welsh team can face the star-studded rivals is a "key motivation".
The Wales head coach added: "We don't go off values, but the simple fact is England don't just have a single lineup. They possess multiple and France and others have the same level. They have loads of top talents and that's the honest truth."
"A defender was ruled out injured the recently and there's only 24 more to go! They've got over sixty players. I'd love Wales to be stacked like them."
These two nations most recently met at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, when the English ran out easy victors in a group match before Gareth Southgate's side made it to the last eight.
Southgate's successor is Thomas Tuchel, a European and Fifa Club World Cup winner at the London club who has claimed league championships in France and his native Germany.
The Welsh boss was previously an assistant at Anderlecht and the English club to Kompany, who replaced Tuchel at Bayern Munich.
"He's an outstanding manager - his achievements is proven," Bellamy added.
"I possess some sort of insight because the club he left I am familiar with individuals who have joined. I gain a bit of an insight there of how he works and it's very impressive. "
"His strategic planning is top level and I wanted to be facing such a challenge - see how we adjust because he will. I can learn from that. I aspire to reach that level."
Welsh Squad Selection
Keepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds United), Davies (Sheffield Utd), Tom King (the Toffees).
Backline: Ben Cabango (Swansea), Jay Dasilva (Coventry), B. Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Lawlor (Cardiff), Chris Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Joe Rodon (Leeds), Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfielders: Ampadu (Leeds), David Brooks (the Cherries), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Stade Rennais), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke), Harry Wilson (the Cottagers), J. Colwill (Cardiff City), Rubin Colwill (Cardiff City).
Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (Wrexham), Cullen (Swansea), Mark Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham - loaned by Liverpool), Johnson (Spurs), Kieffer Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff).
