All I care about is winning – Craig Bellamy not interested in group permutations
Second-placed Wales can still top Group B4 or even slip to third place by losing on Tuesday.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Craig Bellamy has discarded various Nations League permutations facing Wales by declaring his solitary focus is on beating Iceland in their final group fixture.
Wales can still secure automatic promotion to League A by beating Iceland if leaders Turkey lose to bottom-placed Montenegro.
A Turkey draw would leave Wales needing to beat Iceland by a four-goal margin to win the group on goal difference.
Wales would face a promotion play-off against a third-placed team in League A in March should they finish as runners-up.
Losing to Iceland would drop them to third spot and a relegation play-off with a League C runner-up.
“I don’t know about the group,” Wales boss Bellamy said at his pre-match press conference.
“All I care about is winning this game. That’s the honest truth. What will be will be. Win the games, no matter who it is. That’s surely football.
“How can you set up to give you the best opportunity of winning? That’s home or away. Whatever happens elsewhere happens.
“There’s only three outcomes that’s going to happen, but how can we put ourselves in the best position to win the game. That is it.”
Wales remain two points behind Turkey after holding the Euro 2024 quarter-finalists to a goalless draw in Kayseri on Saturday.
Bellamy praised his players’ “magnificent determination” after that gutsy performance and stressed his desire to make Wales a “top football nation”.
“I want us to to be able to go to these top teams and take the game to the opposition,” said Bellamy, whose side drew 2-2 in Iceland last month after establishing a two-goal interval lead.
“We knew that game wasn’t over at half-time. We had a certain amount of control in this game, but it wasn’t dominant enough to say this team is not going to come back.
They've been on a similar journey to where we've been, qualifying, just missing out and getting to the play-offs, so they have big experience
“Knowing the profile of players they have, knowing their manager (the veteran former Denmark boss Age Hareide), and their history – especially over the last 10 or 15 years – this team is never out of a game.
“They’ve been on a similar journey to where we’ve been, qualifying, just missing out and getting to the play-offs, so they have big experience.
“They are producing elite players and that makes them dangerous. There is going to be a lot of difficulties in the game and it’s about how we can win.”
Central defender Joe Rodon is set to win his 50th cap and will show the scars of battle after being in the wars in Kayseri.
Rodon was involved in a nasty clash of heads with team-mate Mark Harris and sustained a couple of cuts just above his eyes.
But the 27-year-old continued with his head bandaged to produce a player-of-the-match performance.
“He’s just been so good for us,” said Bellamy, who revealed that Burnley tried to sign Rodon from Tottenham when he was Vincent Kompany’s assistant at Turf Moor.
“His box defending when you’re deep in defending in the box – headers, blocked shots – he’s so good at it. That’s difficult. Trust me.
“There’s a lot of defenders that are not as good at that as him. When you look at him with the ball, he’s brilliant.
“The way we play enhances him even more. He loves defending.
“Obviously in the air he’s exceptional, but he’s good on the ball. Very, very quick. That’s a good defender.”