The Wales boss was dismissing the idea that if his side beats Bosnia in their World Cup play-off semi-final that will be playing Italy
Craig Bellamy believes Northern Ireland have a fair chance of beating Italy in Bergamo to stay on course to reach the finals for their first time in 40 years.
The Wales boss was dismissing the idea that if his side beats Bosnia in next Thursday’s World Cup play-off semi-final in Cardiff it is a no-brainer that they will meet Italy in the final 2026 World Cup qualifier.
Should Michael O’Neill’s side beat Italy and Wales beat Bosnia, it will mean a trip to the Cardiff City Stadium on 31 March.
“All I keep hearing from everyone is that if we beat Bosnia we’ll be playing Italy. You wait until you see Northern Ireland,” said Bellamy at the Wales squad announcement.
“This team do not play with the ball, they don’t want the ball, so Italy having the ball is not a problem to them.
“When you haven’t qualified for two major tournaments as a top team like they are, just imagine the pressure Italy are going to be under. I am going to be so intrigued as a football fan to see how they handle that.
“If we take care of Bosnia, and that’s a big if because they are a top team, it wouldn’t surprise me whichever team we faced.”
Wales and Northern Ireland both made their World Cup debuts in 1958 with the Irish squad returning to the finals in 1982 and 1986. Wales didn’t make their second appearance until Qatar four years ago.
“You have to do your homework and I’ve watch both Italy and Northen Ireland. They are two completely different teams, so how we would plan to meet Italy would be different in structure to facing Northern Ireland,” continued Bellamy.
“Bosnia play a little bit similar to Italy in their structure without the ball, even though the Italians can switch. We might be able to use some of our Bosnia groundwork if we played Italy, but if it’s Northern Ireland they press in a completely different way.
“Our structure of work is already planned and already ahead because we don’t have time and we must be ready to hit the ground running as soon as the first game is ticked off.”
Wales’s injury list includes Ben Davies, Keiffer Moore and Chris Mepham, but will have the very much in-form Fulham star Harry Wilson, a hat-trick scorer in the 7-1 final pool win over North Macedonia in their last outing in November, fit to play next week.
When the draw for the qualifiers was made Bellamy warned everyone not to write off O’Neill’s team and claimed they were “the one team I didn’t want to play”.
“Everyone’s writing them off but I’m telling you now, watch out for that result – it’s not going to be straightforward. It will be a tough, tough game for Italy,” Bellamy said.
“Down the years they’ve just had something and they know what they are. They’ve got a brilliant manager who I really, really like.
“I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time with him as well, and I loved him. And no wonder his players do as well. They won’t be playing at their home ground, but I just feel they’ll be comfortable in any situation you throw them into.
“If I was Italy going into that game, with everyone expecting you to win, I’m telling you I’d be edgy. I wouldn’t be comfortable with it.
“Italy is one of the greatest nations in football and that’s a lot of responsibility to shoulder. To have to play a team like Northern Ireland I’d just be thinking ‘let’s get through this and see what happens in the other game’.”
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