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Craig Bellamy says Wales will ‘let it hurt’ after World Cup play-off loss

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Craig Bellamy admitted Wales would have to “let it hurt” after their World Cup dream was destroyed by a penalty shoot-out play-off defeat.

Bosnia and Herzegovina prevailed 4-2 on spot-kicks after a 1-1 draw following 120 tension-packed minutes at Cardiff City Stadium.

Wales were four minutes from booking a home play-off final against Italy – 2-0 winners over Northern Ireland – on Tuesday after Daniel James’ stunning strike just after half-time, but 40-year-old veteran Edin Dzeko saved Bosnia by heading home from a corner.

“We’re going to hurt, let it hurt,” said boss Bellamy after history cruelly repeated itself as Wales had lost a Euro 2024 play-off final to Poland in Cardiff on penalties.

“I haven’t really felt this towards a group of players, because I’ve probably never had a group of players for myself as a coach.

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“Getting to back-to-back World Cups was really our target. To know you’ve not got there, and when you see players really disappointed, it hurts you more.

“I hurt tonight as it sinks in now. It will be a sleepless night, difficult to sleep off the back of this one. But it makes me even more determined tomorrow.

“The sun will rise, and I’m going to watch that sun rise. Then straight away, how do I go again? How do I improve? How does this team get better?

“Let’s get over tonight, but there’s a bright future. If I was playing, imagine looking forward to what’s coming up.

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“As a group of players, you have the Nations League coming up. Group A.

“You have a home nation Euros coming. It’s not a bad time to be a Welsh footballer.”

Wales seized the initial advantage in the shoot-out as Karl Darlow saved Ermedin Demirovic’s kick.

But Brennan Johnson blazed over and Neco Williams saw Nikola Vasilj push away his penalty, allowing Kerim Alajbegovic to seal Wales’ fate.

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Bellamy said he had not yet spoken to Johnson, who left the pitch in tears after his crucial penalty miss.

“Of course I’ll speak to Brennan. Let’s get through this moment (first),” said Bellamy.

“It’s a hard one and we practice pens. We’ve done all our research on it, we spent all week doing it.

“So we couldn’t have done any more on penalties. Honestly, I don’t believe in luck on pens.

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“You’ve got to be prepared and rehearse them every day in training. The analysis on penalties we went really through it.

“That leaves me more bewildered. when they missed the first one. I thought ‘yeah, this is exactly what we practice for’, but it wasn’t the case.”

Wales had the best first-half opportunities with Harry Wilson striking the upright midway through.

James hit the woodwork for the second time after lashing home from 25 yards, but Bosnia had threatened increasingly before Dzeko scored his 73rd international goal.

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Bellamy said: “If there’s any learning from it, which is really difficult right now with the disappointment, it is when the heat comes you’ve got to be even calmer.

“What happened is not what we want for this team. Bosnia are drilled for chaos, and we allowed chaos to creep in for 20 minutes.

“We’re not built that way. We don’t play that way.  But I do understand it’s a play-off and they’re going out.”

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Myzone says it's adding strength training to the mix with HFA announcement

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Myzone has unveiled three product innovations that are in development as part of its
expanding Motivation Technology (MoTech) ecosystem. 

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Ex-wife of Eagles star Brent Celek goes public with Hollis Thomas

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An Eagles love story has taken off in the City of Brotherly Love.

Susie Celek, the ex-wife of Super Bowl champion Brent Celek, took to social media this week to reveal her relationship with former Eagles player Hollis Thomas.

Susie shared a video of her and Thomas during various outings, highlighting moments of affection. 

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She captioned it, “Life trends show I’m not big on commitment, but I’m stuck on you, big man.” Lionel Richie’s “Stuck on You” was attached to the post.

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Brent Celek and teammates celebrate

Jason Kelce (62), Brent Celek (87) and Zach Ertz (86) of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrate Ertz’s touchdown against the New England Patriots during the fourth quarter in the Super Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium Feb. 4, 2018, in Minneapolis.  (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

The timing of the start of Susie’s relationship with Thomas and the end of her marriage to Celek is unclear.

KYLIE KELCE REVEALS HER ‘DOS AND DON’TS’ OF TALKING TO POSTPARTUM WOMEN: ‘OH, I’M SO SERIOUS’

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Celek spent his entire NFL career with the Eagles, helping the franchise win its first Super Bowl title in 2017. He retired after the 2017 season. The tight end missed only one game in his 11-year career.

Brent Celek scores a touchdown

Brent Celek of the Philadelphia Eagles scores a touchdown during the first quarter of a game against the Los Angeles Rams at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Dec. 10, 2017, in Los Angeles.   (Gross/Getty Images)

He finished his career with just under 5,000 receiving yards and 31 touchdowns. Thomas signed with the Eagles in 1996 and left after the 2005 season, two years before Celek joined the franchise.

Brent Celek celebrates after a game

Philadelphia Eagles tight end Brent Celek celebrates after defeating the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium Feb, 4, 2018, in Minneapolis. (Brad Rempel/USA Today Sports)

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Thomas spent three seasons with the New Orleans Saints and later had stints with the Rams and Carolina Panthers before retiring after the 2009 season.

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Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

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Roger Penske’s NASCAR driver says new horsepower will shake up Martinsville weekend

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Team Penske’s Austin Cindric explained how NASCAR’s horsepower bump will produce extreme tire falloff at Martinsville Speedway. He expects drivers to step off the throttle to preserve rubber.

NASCAR’s 750-horsepower package at Darlington led to 16 lead changes among eight drivers. Many drivers praised the package for its passing ability, but maintained that the front-end nose wash was still a predominant struggle. Joey Logano, in particular, wanted more tire falloff for better racing.

The onus is now upon Goodyear to deliver the right balance between degradation and durability. The last time Goodyear brought softer sets was at Bristol, where tire wear and corded sets produced a chaotic race.

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Cindric believes in a similar occurrence at Martinsville this year.

“We’ve trended over the last few years of going to tires that definitely wear out more and more at Martinsville,” he said via X/SiriusXM,”On top of that, now we’re adding adding the power and you know, there were times last year Martinsville where you start to get a full throttle as the right rear and the right front tires fall off, so I definitely think it’s going to make an impact, probably more so than maybe anywhere else.”

“We’re doing two u-turns and coming from a stop in comparison to most the places we go. So from what I did on the sim today and everything else, I think it’s definitely going to make an impact and you’re definitely going to have to be pretty nice to those tires,” Cindric added.

Austin Cindric finished among the top-5 at Darlington, making it his maiden top-10 of the season as well. His teammate Ryan Blaney finished among the podium places and took home 42 points.


Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares verdict on NASCAR’s horsepower package at Darlington

Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped an honest take on NASCAR’s 750-horsepower package at the recently concluded Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. The Cup Series veteran believes NASCAR can ‘move forward’ with the change.

He also noted that removing downforce from underneath the car and stripping away the diffuser aided the racing product. On the latest episode of Dalr Jr. Download, Earnhardt said,

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“It didn’t do anything bad. It didn’t produce anything extraordinary. I think it’s Darlington….Goodyear’s done some great work on the tire. We had guys that were able to pass, able to make moves.”

The 293-lap event saw Tyler Reddick win his fourth trophy in six races, a feat last achieved by Bill Elliott in 1992. The 23XI Racing driver had to overcome a multitude of issues and managed to beat a dominant Brad Keselowski by more than five seconds.

Keselowski was disappointed to lose, but admitted it would’ve been worse if he had the fastest car and still came up short.