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“Have you ever seen Usain Bolt in the 100m?” Craig Bellamy asks a crowd of journalists in the Wynnstay auditorium at Wales’s hub in Hensol, on the eve of the World Cup playoff semi-final against Bosnia and Herzegovina. “He’s smiling, waving – all right, it does help he knows he can run at 60% to win – but he has discovered the art of being relaxed and calm to be able to run at his best speed. If you’re tense, you’re fighting yourself.”
Bellamy has been there as a player but as a head coach, while intense and fiercely driven, he believes cool heads will prevail at the Cardiff City Stadium on Thursday and, if they get the right result, in the playoff final at the same venue five days later. It is a message he has relayed in each session, every conversation, since his squad gathered on Sunday. “We all want something, but the more you want something, it doesn’t mean you’re going to get it,” he says. “In sport, I dislike the word ‘pressure’. It is a privilege to be where we are now. Why wouldn’t you enjoy this? If you can’t enjoy this and you only feel pressure, you ain’t made for elite sport. You put that on your shoulders, it gets you nowhere.”
The prize on offer is a place at successive World Cups. Wales missed Euro 2024 after losing a playoff against Poland on penalties. “I honestly feel we should be at this tournament – now we’re going to have to work hard to get there – but I believe we’ll be a massive asset to this World Cup: our players, our fans and our coaching team,” Bellamy says. “Now, we’ve got a lot to do … on the flip side, I have to be prepared for all outcomes.”
He knows the power of qualification, the value of the associated financial boost and the knock-on effect at grassroots. He cites the Welsh language channel S4C showing footage of schoolgirls celebrating Wales securing a spot at the 2025 Women’s European Championship. “I was so proud, it was amazing: ‘Wow.’ If we’re able to do it, we’ll create those moments again.”
As always, Bellamy has done his homework. Take the research he has done digging into the background of Bosnia and Herzegovina, their culture and the makeup of their squad; he knows 11 of their 35-man squad were born in Bosnia, the others in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. “I love history, it was one of the few subjects I enjoyed in school. I knew a lot about Bosnia because of what happened in the early 90s. I remember the 92 Euros when Yugoslavia got pulled out because of what was going on and Denmark took their place, and ended up winning it. I’ve always been interested in the Balkan region.”
The 46-year-old, who never made it to a major tournament with Wales as a player, is not lacking belief, even if they are without their regular captain, Ben Davies, through injury, meaning the Leeds midfielder Ethan Ampadu will again deputise. Bellamy claims Wales rank sixth among European countries in terms of possession and since he took the reins approaching two years ago, Montenegro, in a “mad game”, and England are the only opponents to have enjoyed more of the ball. “There won’t be any regrets, we’re not that way … whether the result goes our way or not, I know we’ll give everything.”
Whatever happens, after this month Bellamy hopes to consign playoffs to the past. Wales triumphed against Ukraine to reach Qatar in 2022 but their last experience ended in pain, when Wojciech Szczesny was Poland’s hero. Bellamy wants to build a team capable of competing for top spot in qualifying. “We’ve enjoyed them, we’ve had great times … we’ve seen the Championship, League One, League Two playoffs, there is no better way of going up than through those moments and, if that’s the case over the next few days, then brilliant. But I’d much prefer to finish No 1 and not have to go through any of it.”
Bellamy has purposefully kept his distance from the finals, not attending December’s draw in Washington DC or visiting their potential Salt Lake City base in person, his mantra in effect that Wales have achieved nothing yet and he should only visit once they have a flag in the ground. That is not to say Bellamy is not across every detail, with staff acutely aware of special requests relating to training pitches and the desired environment.
Despite having little more than 72 hours and three training sessions with his squad – some players have only trained once owing to their recovery schedules – there is a discernible wave of momentum carried forward from the end of the regular qualifying campaign that ended in style with a 7-1 trouncing of North Macedonia.
“We have two games to keep this thing marching,” Bellamy says. “What do you think’s happening tomorrow? We’re going all out, we ain’t sitting back. You might look at me after the game, maybe I need to change, but we’ll deal with that question then. This is us, this is who I am, this is who my coaching staff and players are. If it fails, I can sleep. Do you know why I’m so calm? Because we’re such a good team. The rest will take care of itself.”
