Wales’ Dragon Fire Fades: Beaten Twice but Never Without Fight | OneFootball

Wales had a tough international break, falling to two top-class sides, but they went down fighting. The dragon may be wounded, but it’s far from defeated. The fire may flicker, yet it’s ready to roar once more.

Jeremy Doku had fun running rings around them in Cardiff and England enjoyed a dominant and well measured display at Wembley. But how did international break really go for Craig Bellamy’s men?

EnGland 3-0 Wales

For Wales, a really bad night to forget at Wembley. For the third successive meeting with England, they were beaten by 3 goals. The score line doesn’t really do the game justice, particularly from the first half display, because it definitely could’ve and should’ve been way more.

Instantly Wales were put onto the back foot and made to sit in their own half. It didn’t take England long to get the opener as Morgan Rogers finished from close range after a corner. It was just basic defending done so poorly by Wales and against a top side in England they paid the price for it.

To be fair Wales played the way Bellamy wants them to play, they didn’t stop trying things they’ve been doing since Bellamy took over. But for them it also kept on putting themselves in trouble.

In the midfield they were constantly outnumbered, England were far superior technically and physically. Wales also tried to press the England center backs but because of that disadvantage centrally and the lack of compactness, England were capable of picking them apart with such ease and creating many chances from it.

Quickly followed the second goal from Ollie Watkins and then that stunner into the top corner by Bukayo Saka. The pattern of the first half was consistent and repetitive where Wales just couldn’t find a way to become more compact, make the gaps between the lines smaller and try make it a rough battle with England. Quite simply, they were dominated and played off the park by a far superior side.

The second half, Craig Bellamy was able to make the key adjustments with his Wales team at half time and if you were to split the outcome into the two halves, Wales got themselves a goalless draw in the second 45 where the gaps between the lines were smaller, they were more compact, they were able to get a couple of chances and they made it more of a battle.

That 2nd half would’ve given Wales a good feeling and boost mentally from a performance perspective ahead of the Belgium game in Cardiff even if the result on paper represented a comfortable beating.

Wales 2-4 Belgium

Wales came flying out the blocks in this one, with plenty of fight and intensity. Yes it was another defeat, and arguably this one was more costly than the game against England in terms of their World Cup qualification hopes. But they definitely showed more competitiveness against Belgium which is a big positive.

The opening few minutes couldn’t have got much better for Wales. They instantly pushed Belgium backwards onto the back foot, creating chances, being direct and being physical in every battle. They got themselves a corner in the 8th minute where Sorba Thomas put in a fantastic cross into the box and Joe Rodon was able to find space around the penalty spot to head home past Thibaut Courtois.

When they were able to attack and go forward, Wales looked strong and dangerous throughout. Shortly after getting the opener, Harry Wilson had a massive chance but he was unable to control the ball and the chance eventually fizzled out.

But something they continuously struggled with in the game was the transitions because especially in wide areas, they were heavily exposed. Belgium had decent movement from their forward players but one man who stood out in particular was Jeremy Doku. He was running rings around that Welsh defense at times and was quite simply having fun.

Wales gave away a penalty and Kevin De Bruyne converted excellently to get Belgium level after 18 minutes. Wales then conceded yet again a few minutes later, long ball forward across to Doku and it looked like it was too long but the Manchester City winger used all his pace brilliantly to get onto the end of it, he drove inside and because Wales were slow to react to the danger, Doku was able to put it on a plate for Thomas Meunier to thump home past Darlow.

Wales came out of the break and into the 2nd half with a lot of work to do and yet again they performed consistently well in the 2nd half. They effectively dominated Belgium in large parts and were able to sustain many attacks. But the issue they had was that they just couldn’t find a way through the Belgian wall.

Despite all the pushing they did and all the pressure they put onto Belgium, they were done by the classic sucker punch. They gave away another penalty for handball and once again Kevin De Bruyne converted excellently which extended Belgium’s lead by two goals to 3-1 after 76 minutes.

Wales showed strong mental determination and despite going two down, they didn’t let their heads drop at all. They continued pushing believing there was a chance of getting something out of the game. Up stepped Nathan Broadhead who scored a fantastic goal to cut the deficit back to within one heading into 2nd half stoppage time.

But yet again they got caught soon after scoring, great work by Doku down the left and Trossard was their in the box to fire home and that sealed all three crucial points for Belgium who have gone top of their World Cup qualifying group.

The two results Wales got from this international break are tough ones they’ll need to take on the chin and they will need to reset ahead of a big November.

But in terms of performance, especially from the Belgium game, there are positives Craig Bellamy can take from it despite the fact it looks like a costly defeat for his Wales team when it comes to their hopes of reaching another World Cup.