England Squad Strength Labelled 'Ridiculous' - Wales Boss Craig Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: Wales vs England
Venue: London's Wembley, London Date: October 9th Kick-off: 7:45 PM BST
Craig Bellamy states the English player pool is remarkable that matchmakers wouldn't match them against his Wales side.
The Welsh squad face England in a non-competitive match at the national stadium on this Thursday before their crucial World Cup qualifier against Belgium next Monday.
National team coach Thomas Tuchel has omitted the such as Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish out of his squad for the match against Wales and their qualifying game against the Latvian team.
"The English have a ridiculous squad, similar to the French," the coach said.
"England have a market valuation of 1.4 billion pounds, ours is 170 million. If you were a boxing promoter, you wouldn't match us up. It wouldn't be allowed."
He explains ensuring the Welsh team can compete with the star-studded opponents is a "key motivation".
The Wales head coach added: "Our team don't go off values, but the reality is England don't just have one team. They possess two, three, four and the French and others are similarly stacked. England have loads of great players and that's the honest truth."
"A defender went out injured the recently and there are two dozen others to go! They've got 60-odd footballers. I'd love us to be well-equipped like them."
The neighbouring countries last faced each other at the 2022 tournament in the Middle East, when England ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in a fixture before the previous England team made it to the quarter-finals.
The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a European and world club winner at Chelsea who has claimed domestic titles in France and his native Germany.
Bellamy was previously an coach at the Belgian side and the English club to Vincent Kompany, who succeeded Tuchel at Bayern Munich.
"Tuchel's an outstanding coach - his achievements is proven," Bellamy noted.
"I possess some sort of understanding because the club he left I am familiar with individuals who have joined. I gain a bit of an insight from that of his methods and it's remarkable. "
"His strategic planning is top level and I aimed to be up against that - see how you're going to adapt because he adapts too. I will get to learn from that. I aspire to reach that level."
Wales Team Selection
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Davies (Sheffield Utd), King (the Toffees).
Defenders: Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry), Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff), Mepham (West Brom), Rodon (Leeds), Williams (Nottingham Forest).
Midfielders: Ampadu (Leeds United), Brooks (the Cherries), Jordan James (Leicester City - on loan from Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton), Sorba Thomas (Stoke), H. Wilson (Fulham), J. Colwill (Cardiff City), R. Colwill (Cardiff).
Forwards: Nathan Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Liam Cullen (Swansea), Harris (Oxford), Koumas (Birmingham - loaned by Liverpool), Johnson (Spurs), Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff City).
