Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Bellamy jealous of Irish success

WORLD CUP QUALIFIER: Wales v Germany
Venue: Millennium Stadium Date: Wednesday, 1 April Kick-off: 1945 BST
Coverage: Full commentary on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and online, live text commentary on BBC Sport website & mobiles and live on Sky Sports 1


Criag Bellamy
Craig Bellamy is to win his 57th Wales cap against Germany on Wednesday

Craig Bellamy admits he is jealous of Group Three leaders Northern Ireland's 2010 World Cup qualifying success.

The Wales captain all but conceded qualification defeat after their 2-0 defeat to Finland on Saturday.

Wales face Germany in Cardiff on Wednesday and he wishes the Millennium Stadium could replicate the intimidating Windsor Park atmosphere.

Bellamy said: "You want to be part of the atmosphere at Windsor Park, when you watch Northern Ireland it hurts."

Northern Ireland, whose estimated population of 1.75m is much less than Wales' 2.9m, beat Poland 3-2 at their Windsor Park fortress on Saturday to lead Group Three by a point from Slovakia.

Wales, though, were booed off by a section of their supporters following a dismal 2-0 Group Four qualifying defeat to an aging Finland side at a less than third full Millennium Stadium.

Toshack cagey on Wales fallout

"We haven't got the atmosphere," admits Bellamy.

"We aren't generating anything. What a nice place to come and play at the moment. Opposition teams must be very comfortable here.

"You come to a nice city, a very good stadium. No pressure. No atmosphere.

"They go out there and just play against a team that, at the moment, isn't going to force the issue.

"You see the difference in Northern Ireland. Windsor Park is a tough old place. The pitch isn't good. The changing rooms are terrible. The atmosphere is fantastic.

"As a player I'm a bit envious of that."

Northern Ireland host Slovenia on Wednesday expecting a full house in Belfast while the Welsh FA hope that 30,000 visit to the 72,500 Millennium Stadium watch the national team play Germany.

Bellamy will lead the team he criticised after Saturday's disappointment in Cardiff, standing by his outburst at an under-achieving squad.

John Toshack
John is the manager, he believes how we go forward and he has been very good to me. I am very much behind him and the way he does things

Wales captain Craig Bellamy

The Manchester City striker said: "Maybe I could have chosen my words differently, but I still very much believe in what I said. I could have worded it differently, but I have to put up with that.

"Sometimes you cannot be honest in football, you have to duck questions and be as diplomatic as you can.

"But for me that is now easy. I am emotional and I try to be honest as much as I can. Basically I do not like letting people off.

"We were all disappointed and frustrated, and I say things. I am old enough to know that such comments allow people to have a dig back, but I can handle that.

"For the first time we had players coming in and we looked like we were getting somewhere and then suddenly after Finland it's all deflated and all the promise seems to have gone.

"As a manager and as players we are all going to come into some flak.

"We must do a lot better now than we did against Finland.

"Whatever the tactics and formations, you still have to perform to the best of your ability.

"We've been down because of the disappointment of Saturday. We let a lot of people down and a lot of people are not shy and want to let us know about it.

Despite his obvious discontent, Bellamy retains his support for Wales boss John Toshack.

"John is the manager, he believes how we go forward and he has been very good to me," he said.

"I am very much behind him and the way he does things.

"Things will be questioned, rightly so, but the last few years have been bad for Welsh football. We have not had enough players and that has been a problem.

"But we will be more fired up for Germany, otherwise it will be a very uncomfortable evening and we could get badly turned over."

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